160 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
FOREST HOME, MILWAUKEES MODERN CEMETERY 
A Description of Milwaukee’s Beautiful Cemetery, Its Build- 
ings and Its Management, by Superintendent James Currie. 
Photographs by E. T. Hindman Co. 
IMPOSING MONUMENTS IN BEAUTIFUL SURROUNDINGS AT FOREST HOME. 
BLATZ MAUSOLEUM AT RIGHT. 
One of the finest examples of the mod- 
ern park cemetery that has been developed 
to bring out the best in landscape art and 
efficient management is Forest Home Cem- 
etery, Milwaukee. 
We have previously described the en- 
trance to Milwaukee’s beautiful park cem- 
etery, and our readers will be equally in- 
terested in this descriptive account of the 
grounds, and the management of the affairs 
of one of the most modern cemeteries in 
the country that has been prepared for 
Park and Cemetery by Superintendent 
James Currie. 
Situated on the southern borders of the 
city of Milwaukee, about four miles from 
the city hall, Forest Home occupies a tract 
of land approximating 190 acres, peculiarly 
and admirably adapted by nature for cem- 
etery purposes. Easily and conveniently 
accessible now from all points in the city, 
it was, when established in 1850, consid- 
ered so far removed from the city limits 
that it probably never would be encroached 
upon to any appreciable extent by the 
homes of the living, nor was it considered 
likely to become an obstacle barring the 
city’s expansion, nor, on the other hand, 
have its own peace and quiet invaded and 
disturbed by the din and business activi- 
ties. But the march of progress has been 
so rapid and to that extent has Milwaukee 
developed that today Forest Home is nearly 
all within the city limits, almost entirely 
surrounded, except on the south, by a pop- 
ulation so dense that there are now very 
few unoccupied lots in the vicinity. Al- 
though in a sense rapid, these changes have 
been so gradual that the cemetery has 
been, so to speak, able to adapt itself to its 
environments and create for itself a place 
.in the community, not only undisputed, but 
welcomed as a beauty spot and a final 
resting place where sleep so many of Mil- 
waukee’s pioneers and later generations of 
her most illustrious citizens. 
Previous to the establishment of Forest 
Home the need for a larger and better 
burial place than was then afforded by the 
several small cemeteries in the city was 
becoming more and more apparent. It 
was easy to estimate that these even in 
the aggregate were altogether too small for 
future requirements, too premature in plan, 
unattractive in aspect, incapable except to 
a limited extent of improvement, and more- 
over, far from permanent. A few lead- 
ing citizens, alive to the situation, actuated 
by a spirit of true and unselfish philan- 
thropy, began a study of the problem, ex- 
culding all thought of personal gain or 
mercenary profit of any nature, the only 
motive being the desire to establish a per- 
manent cemetery of liberal size in a suit- 
able location on the best land adapted for 
the purpose which could be procured, and 
adopting the best of modern ideas in lay- 
ing out the grounds and for the general 
management of the affairs of the cemetery 
that it might be a place of beauty and a 
source of pleasure and pride to the whole 
community as well as to those directly con- 
cerned, and its business be conducted solely 
with the view to promoting the best in- 
terests of the cemetery and its lot owners. 
So well and so wisely did these single- 
minded and public-spirited citizens accom- 
plish their purpose that it may be consist- 
ently said that complete success has attend- 
ed their efforts. A suitable place was se- 
lected and a special act of the legislature 
was secured to insure perpetuity, so that 
the dead might be buried in the full confi- 
dence that their bodies would never be dis- 
turbed. 
In selecting a place for the burial of the 
dead and a name by which the cemetery 
should be pleasingly and suitably desig- 
nated, all who have visited Forest Home 
will, I am sure, agree with me that the 
persons who took upon themselves that re- 
sponsible duty displayed a painstaking in- 
terest in their mission and an intelligent 
understanding of conditions to meet all re- 
quirements in the choice they made of a 
tract of land so well adapted for the pur- 
pose. All of the land first purchased and 
much of the area subsequently acquired 
was a virgin forest, hence the appropriate- 
ness of the name Forest Home, so euphoni- 
ous to the ear and so agreeably suggestive 
of rest and peaceful seculsion. 
The formation of the ground is a light 
loam on a deep subsoil of sand and gravel. 
The surface is rolling, presenting a pleas- 
ingly varied and almost ideal contour, no- 
where too abrupt in its undulations for 
practical purposes, yet in places bold 
enough to approach the picturesque. On 
the whole, the landscape is a series of gen- 
