164 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
LAKEWOOD CEMETERY, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 
;« Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, 
|4 Minn., was laid out when Minneapolis 
was in its infancy. 
In August, 1 87 1 , the 
committee which had 
been appointed in the 
month previous, re- 
ported in favor of 
what is now Lake- 
wood, and the report 
was approved and pur- 
chase made. At this 
time Hennepin county, 
of which Minneapolis 
is the county seat, had 
only about 31,000 in- 
habitants, of which 
Minneapolis itself 
counted not to exceed 5,000. Minneapolis is now 
a city of two hundred thousand inhabitants and Lake- 
wood cemetery has kept full pace with it in growth 
and development, having been transformed from a 
virgin forest to a beautiful burial park and con- 
tinues to be one of its chief ornaments and most 
beautiful resorts. 
The original cemetery site comprised eighty 
acres of rolling land lying between Lakes Calhoun 
and Harriet and cost $20,000. This area has been 
increased by purchase and exchange until at pres- 
ent the total area is about 200 acres. In the sum- 
mer of 1872 a portion of the ground was platted, 
and on Sept. 16th, of that year the dedication took 
place. Years before a band of Sioux Indians had 
used the northwesterly portion of the grounds as a 
permanent camp or village, and a number of our 
citizens still remember the fact. The grounds are 
well within the city limits of to-day and are accessi- 
ble by three lines of street cars, as well as being di- 
rectly on two of ihe most prominent parkways of 
the city. The superintendent’s residence occupies 
a beautiful corner directly across from the main en- 
trance to the cemetery and is entirely outside and 
separate from the grounds proper. All the barns, 
sheds, etc., are also outside the grounds and thus 
one source of dirt and litter is removed. 
During these first few years of the cemetery ’s 
existence the sales were light and the burials few, 
but at present Lakewood buries about twenty-five 
per cent, of all the people who die in Minneapolis, 
averaging about six hundred per year, and has the 
larger share of the cases sent here by railroad from 
outside points. During the first ten years the total 
burials were only eleven hundred; the total number 
to date being 9,400 of which thirteen hundred are 
buried in single graves. 
The plan adopted for the improvement of the 
cemetery was what is now known as the lawn plan. 
Strict rules were adopted for the management of 
the grounds, fences and hedges were prohibited 
around lots, and the promiscuous planting of trees 
and shrubs was discouraged. It was also decided 
that the posts set to designate the lot corners should 
not project above the sod level. 
For a few years the care of his lot was left op- 
tional with the lot owner, but in 1882 it was de- 
cided to place the entire grounds under general 
care and the price of lots was raised sufficiently to 
insure a fund to meet this extra expense. Prices at 
present range from fifty cents to a dollar and a half 
per square foot, the average sale price varying from 
year to year. One- fifth of all money received from 
lot sales is required by statute to be placed in the 
hands of trustees to provide for the maintenance of 
the grounds when all other sources of revenue shall 
have ceased. The principle on which the Associa- 
tion is conducted, is that all monies received shall 
be devoted to the maintenance and improvement of 
the grounds. 
Of the two hundred acres owned by the Asso- 
ciation about forty acres are unavailable, being 
too low and swampy for burial or else surrounded 
entirely by swampy lands; the remainder is beauti- 
fully wooded land and about eighty acres are under 
care at present. Along the entire front of the 
SHELTER LODUE AT STREET CAR ENTRANCE OF LAKEWOOD 
CEMETERY, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 
grounds there is a strip varying in width from 75 
to 200 feet which is reserved as a park or ornamen- 
tal piece and which will probably never be sold for 
burial purposes. 
