PARK AND CEMETERY. 
325 
FRONT AND REAR OF CHAPEL IN GRACELAND CEMETERY, 
SUCCESS IN PRIVATELY MANAGED CEMETERIES 
A great many cities and towns that are 
contemplating the establishing of cemeter- 
ies are in doubt as to the most efficient and 
successful methods of organizing, develop- 
ing and managing burial grounds. The old 
type of municipal cemetery is generally out 
of favor because it is often not well kept. 
The privately owned cemetery, operated 
for profit with perpetual maintenance fea- 
tures, or the association or corporation that 
makes no profit, but puts all its surplus to 
the improvement of the ground, are both 
advocated and both successfully used. The 
conditions and problems connected with the 
organizing of such cemeteries to best meet 
the needs of each individual community 
have seldom been systematically studied 
I with a view of ascertaining the principles 
on which cemeteries can be most efficiently 
organized and managed. In many com- 
munities private companies are being or- 
ganized or planned to develop new ceme- 
teries, and Park and Cemetery is fre- 
quently asked to advise as to the possible 
success of such enterprises. 
There are many examples of successful 
privately managed cemeteries and many 
others, hastily organized by promoters of 
inexperienced people that have failed. Citi- 
zens are usually very willing to subscribe 
stock in an institution of this kind, pro- 
vided that they may know that a fair rate 
of interest may be expected and that the 
town will be given a really creditable insti- 
tution. The history of privately owned 
cemetery companies has been the same as 
the history of other private business enter- 
prises. Some have failed and some have 
made good. The reasons in nearly every 
case have been individual and local, and it 
is practically impossible to generalize as 
to the probable success of such ventures. 
The first thing to determine, of course, is 
the need for a cemetery in the community, 
and the next is the ability to develop the 
best possible under the local conditions and 
with the land available. The selection of 
the land and the planting and platting of 
the ground should be studied by cemetery 
landscape architects of long experience and 
the grounds developed and managed by a 
trained cemetery executive. In no other 
way can a privately owned cemetery be 
made a success. The development of a 
cemetery is a highly technical business en- 
terprise and one that demands a high type 
of expert knowledge, experience and execu- 
tive ability. 
One of the most conspicuous examples of 
a privately owned cemetery that has been 
successfully developed in a very short time 
in a typical city of medium size is to be 
found in the history of the Graceland Cem- 
etery Association, of Sioux City, la. This 
company was organized four years ago, pur- 
chased 130 acres of ground, and set about 
the development of a modern, lawn-plan 
cemetery that should have every feature of 
careful management and skillful develop- 
ENTRANCE, GRACELAND CEMETERY, SIOUX CITY, IA. 
