Prospect Hill Cemetery

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For Prospect Hill Cemetery in Washington D.C , see Prospect Hill Cemetery (Washington, DC).

Prospect Hill Cemetery, located at 3202 Parker Street between 31st and 33rd Streets and Parker and Grant Streets in North Omaha, Nebraska, USA, is Omaha's oldest pioneer cemetery. The site of the Cemetery was made available after the trial of Baker v. Morton, in which courts ruled against Omaha's notorious land barons. The cemetery's first official burial was Alonzo F. Salisbury, Omaha pioneer and member of the Nebraska Territory Legislature. There were approximately 15,000 burials recorded at Prospect Hill, including those of many Omaha pioneers, including influential developers, religious leaders, mayors, judges, and benefactors, for whom Omaha streets, parks and schools were named.^[1] Prospect Hill was designated a landmark by the City of Omaha in 1979.

[edit] History

While laying out "Shinn's Addition" northwest of Omaha in 1856, Moses F. Shinn set aside 10 acres for a cemetery on land where Native Americans and Mormons had reportedly been buried earlier.^[2] The location was reportedly one mile from the Mormon Trail. That year he sold the land to Byron Reed, an early Omaha real estate broker.^[3] Jesse Lowe, the first mayor of Omaha, set aside those 10 acres of land for burial purposes in 1858. The new cemetery included a variety of lands, including the city original cemeteries called Cedar Hills and Omaha City Cemeteries. Parts of those cemeteries are still in Prospect Hill boundaries.^[4]

The first official Prospect Hill burial occurred in June, 1858. By I859 the cemetery had grown to 20 acres and was enlarged again in 1890, when the Prospect Hill Cemetery Association was founded. Soon Prospect Hill was 35 acres. Many of Omaha's early business leaders and politicians are buried in the cemetery.^[5] Early Omaha real estate agent Byron Reed ran the cemetery early. In the 1880s the Forest Lawn Cemetery opened seven miles (11 km) from Prospect Hill, and eventually Reed sold Prospect Hill to the Forest Lawn Cemetery Association.

There is a chapel constructed of rough brick and accented in stone, and a Tudor-Revival gatehouse located on Parker Street. The cemetery is was designated as a local landmark in 1979.^[6]

Of the 15,000 burials there, Prospect Hill is home to many Omaha legends, including several who had streets and counties named after them. The cemetery has many interesting monuments and a special section for soldiers from Fort Omaha. It also has graves for at least 360 early African American Omahans.^[7]

[edit] Burials

See also Burials at Prospect Hill Cemetery (category)

Many of Omaha's pioneer families are buried at Prospect Hill. Some of the family names include Deuel, Gaylord, Hall, Hanscom, Kennard, Kountze, Krug, Lake, Lowe, McCague, Metz, Redick, and Reed. There are also many other notable people interred at Prospect Hill.

[edit] See also

• List of cemeteries in Omaha
• Landmarks in Omaha, Nebraska

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Photo of the Nebraska State Historical Marker
• Historic Prospect Hill - Omaha's Pioneer Cemetery] Nebraska State Historical Society website.
• FindAGrave.Com - Prospect Hill Cemetery
• Prospect Hill Cemetery City of Omaha Landmarks Commission.
• Prospect Hill - Filled with facts about the history of Prospect Hill, along with a photos.

[edit] Related publications

• Baumann, L. Martin, C., Simpson, S. (199) Omaha's Historic Prospect Hill Cemetery: A History of Prospect Hill Cemetery with Biographical Notes on Over 1400 People Interred Therein. Prospect Hill Cemetery Historical Development Foundation.