PARK AND CEMETERY. 
226 
MOUNT HOPE, ROCHESTER’S HISTORIC CEMETERY 
Mount Hope, Rochester, N. Y., is 
one of the few large cemeteries in 
the country ably and honestly ad- 
ministered under city auspices. Es- 
tablished in 1836, only four years af- 
ter the incorporation of the city, its 
history is substantially the history 
of Rochester, and many of the men 
who have made the city one of the 
most beautiful and progressive in 
New York, lie beneath the imposing 
monuments that dot its wooded hills. 
The site is high up on- the east 
bank of the picturesque Genesee 
river, whose falls and high ^banks, 
covered with a thick forest growth, 
make its winding course through the- 
heart of the city a scenic beauty that 
ranks with the gorge at Niagara. 
The original property included 
about 59 acres which was purchased 
for $5,386 in 1836 and $8,000 in city 
bonds issued for this purchase and 
improvement. Since the first pur- 
chase, lands have been added until 
the cemetery contains 250 acres, cost- 
ing some $70,000, in addition to 
which large expenditures have been 
made in improving, caring for and 
beautifying the grounds. The city 
treasury has never been called upon 
to pay a cent since the first $8,000 
“THE WEARY PILGRIM.” 
Perkins Memorial, Mount Hope Cometerv 
Rochester. 
were obtained from the sale of city 
bonds in 1837. 
In 1866 the cemetery was placed 
under the control of a Board of Com- 
missioners. These commissioners, 
one appointed each year by the Com- 
mon Council for a three-year term, 
compose the board. The list of these 
commissioners includes the names of 
many of the leading citizens of Roch- 
ester. 
At the beginning of the term of 
the first board the cemetery receipts 
from various sources amounted to 
$11,000. At the close of last year 
the report showed the receipts to 
amount to $59,149.04, with an excess 
of $12,810.78 over the expenditures. 
The total number of interments is 
now 70,000. 
The cemetery has ‘been in charge 
of Superintendent John W. Kel- 
ler since 1899, and the well-kept 
grounds and good management tes- 
tify to his capable administration of 
aflairs. Mr. Keller is a leading mem- 
ber of the Association of American 
Cemetery Superintendents and thor- 
oughly trained in landscape work 
and horticulture. His father was a 
florist and his early training makes 
him particularly successful in caring 
for the large greenhouse on the 
grounds. 
Owing to the rolling character of 
the ground and the grave mounds in 
the older parts- of the cemetery, the 
care of turf is no small task, and Mr. 
Keller employs about 100 men and 
eight teams from April to November. 
Grave mounds are gradually being 
done away with, however, and the 
grounds modernized as rapidly as pos- 
sible. 
Water pumped from the Genesee 
river into a large tank conveniently 
located supplies two-thirds of the 
grounds, as the city supply is of in- 
sufficient pressure at that elevation. 
The office building and chapel, 
shown in the illustrations, are hand- 
some, vine-covered structures, and 
many fine monuments and mausol- 
eums have been erected. Among the 
most interesting of these is the 
Erickson Perkins memorial, “The 
Weary Pilgrim" as it has come to be 
known. It consists of a granite ped- 
GLEN AVENUE, A HILLSIDE DRIVE IN MOUNT HOPE. 
