Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio
From Freepedia
Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum in Dayton, Ohio, is one of the nations oldest "garden" cemeteries. Woodland was founded in 1841 by John Whitten Van Cleve (July, 1801—6 September, 1858), the first male child born in Dayton. The cemetery began with 40 acres southeast of Dayton and has been enlarged to it present size of 200 acres. Over 3,000 trees and 165 specimens of native Midwestern trees and woody plants grace the rolling hills. Many of the trees are more than a century old and 9 have been designated "Ohio Champions."
The Romanesque gateway, chapel and office, completed in 1889, are on the National Register of Historic Places. The buildings were constructed of the stone from the original cemetery wall. The chapel has one of the finest original Tiffany windows in the country. A mausoleum was added in 1970.
The monuments, ranging from rugged boulders to Greek statues and temples, memorialize the lives of people who helped shape the nation and the city. Woodland is the final resting place for over 100,000 people, including:
- John H. Balsley, inventor of the folding step-ladder
- Loren M. Berry, inventor of the Yellow Pages
- Erma Bombeck, writer
- Mrs. Leslie Carter, actress
- Daniel C. Cooper, (founder of Dayton)
- James M. Cox, Governor
- Edward A. Deeds, engineer, inventor and industrialist
- Paul Laurence Dunbar, poet
- George P. Huffman, (Huffy Bicycles)
- Charles F. Kettering, inventor
- L. L. Langstroth, father of American beekeeping
- George Mead, (Mead Paper)
- John H. Patterson, entrepreneur (NCR)
- James Ritty, inventor of the cash register
- Clement Vallandigham Congressman and Copperhead leader
- Wilbur and Orville Wright, aircraft inventors
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