Forest Lawn Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in Buffalo, New York founded in 1849 by Charles E. Clarke. It covers over 269 acres (1.1 km2) and over 152,000 are buried there, including U.S. President Millard Fillmore, First Lady Abigail Fillmore, singer Rick James, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, and inventor Lawrence Dale Bell. Forest Lawn is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Overview

Since its inception, Forest Lawn has served as a cemetery, park, arboretum, crematory and outdoor museum. Monuments, mausoleums and sculptures have attracted visitors for over 150 years. The first sculpture of Seneca Indian chief Red Jacket was erected in 1851. Red Jacket is depicted wearing the richly embroidered scarlet coat presented to him by a British officer, while on his breast is displayed the large silver peace medal awarded to him by President George Washington.[2][3]

Forest Lawn Cemetery map in 1908

Every summer Forest Lawn offers "Sundays in the Cemetery" tours, each with a particular theme. Past examples have included the Pan-American Exposition Trolley Tour, Forest Lawn History Trolley Tour, Forest Lawn History Walk, Civil War Bus Tour and the Forest Lawn Nature Walk.

Margaret L. Wendt Archive and Research Center

In 2014, the 3,140-square-foot (292 m2)[4] Margaret L. Wendt Archive and Resource Center opened within the cemetery. It is a digitized history center, of interment records maintained since 1849,[4] that features a number of interpretive displays highlighting the notable citizens buried in the cemetery. The building features climate controlled rooms and the design of the building mimics some of the historic structure that once stood at the same site.[5] The staff includes Sandy Starks (Interpretive Program Director), John Edens and Lydia Ortiz. Construction and funding for the Center was provided by The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation along with support from The John R. Oishei Foundation.[4]

Mausoleums

In 2004, Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1928 design for the Blue Sky Mausoleum was realized. The Mausoleum contains 24 crypts, which can be purchased and memorialized by individual owners. The Blue Sky Mausoleum is one of three Frank Lloyd Wright memorial sculptures in the world. Sculptor David P. Dowler created a Steuben Glass piece in a limited edition of 26, of which 24 are reserved for those who purchase crypts in the Mausoleum. Crypt clients also receive a copy of architectural historian Richard O. Reisem's 2005 book, Blue Sky Mausoleum of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Other mausoleums in the cemetery include:

Burgess-Little Mausoleum – designed by H. H. (Henry Harrison) Little.

Butler Mausoleum – constructed for Edward H. Butler, proprietor of the Buffalo Evening News.

Buswell-Hochstetter Mausoleum

Good Mausoleum – constructed for Daniel B. Good, who established the Seibert-Good Company in Chicago, which later consolidated with the Seymour H. Knox stores of Buffalo, N.Y. and finally amalgamated with the F.W. Woolworth Company.

Goodyear (Frank) Mausoleum – constructed for Frank Henry Goodyear, who, with his brother, Charles W. Goodyear, started the Buffalo and Susquehanna Railroad.

Kellner Mausoleum – constructed for John. S. Kellner, president of the Crystal Ice and Storage Company.

Knox Mausoleum – constructed for Seymour H. Knox I, co-founder of F. W. Woolworth Company.

Laub Mausoleum

Letchworth-Skinner Mausoleum –

Mitchel H. Mark Mausoleum – constructed for Mitchell Mark, founder of the Vitascope Theater Company

Oberkircher Mausoleum – constructed for Caroline Oberkircher and family.

Pierce (George) Mausoleum – constructed for George N. Pierce who co-founded a company known as Heinz, Pierce and Munshauer for the manufacture of refrigerators, birdcages, iceboxes and bathtubs, until leaving to establish the Pierce Cycle Company, which later became the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Co.

Stachura Mausoleum – constructed for Chester and Gloria Stachura.

Steuernagel Mausoleum – constructed for John Steuernagel, president and board chairman of Kleinhans department store.

Vars Mausoleum – designed by Lawrence Bley and Duane Lyman. Interred are Harry Thorp Vars, Gertrude Waltho Vars, Mary G. Vars, Addison Foster Vars, Addison F. Vars, Jr., Aline Vars, Carlton J. Balliett, Evelyn Waltho Balliett, Jr., Rose Waltho Brown, Bertha W. Barker, and Estelle Noell Reavis.

Walden-Myer Mausoleum – designed by Richard A. Waite for Buffalo's mayor from 1838–39,[6] Ebenezer Walden, and son-in law, Albert J. Myer, recognized by many as the "founder and father" of the US Weather Bureau.[7]

Willams-Pratt Mausoleum

Gallery

Walden-Myer Mausoleum

Blue Sky Mausoleum. Designed in 1928 by Frank Lloyd Wright for Darwin D. Martin. Constructed in 2004.

Close-Up of Blue Sky Mausoleum

Red Jacket statue

Thomas Crane Monument, 1853.

The Blocher Memorial

The Birge Memorial by George Cary for George K. Birge, president of the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company.

Grave of the Fakir of Ava

Grave of Dorothy Goetz, wife of Irving Berlin

Marker for final resting place of Frederick Cook

The Oishei Bell, near the entrance to the cemetery

Interior of the Blocher Memorial

Millard Fillmore grave

Rick James grave

Memorial to the victims of Colgan Air Flight 3407

Others buried here

Lewis F. Allen (1800-1890), American politician and land developer

Major Andre Andrews (1792–1834), 2nd Mayor of Buffalo

William Farquhar Barry (1818–1879), U.S. Civil War general[8]

Hiram Barton (1810–1880), Mayor of Buffalo, 1849–1850, 1852–1853

Lyman K. Bass (1836–1889), member of the U.S. House of Representatives

Philip Becker (1830–1898), Mayor of Buffalo, 1876–1877, 1886–1889

Al Boasberg (1891–1937), comedy writer

Louise Blanchard Bethune (1856–1913), first female architect

Daniel D. Bidwell Civil War brigadier general[8]

John Brent, first African-American professional architect in Buffalo

Thomas A. Budd (1818–1862), US Navy officer.[8]

Willis Carrier, inventor of modern air conditioning

Stephen Champlin, US Navy officer[8]

Shirley Chisholm, American politician, educator, and author

George William Clinton, Mayor of Buffalo

Eli Cook, Mayor of Buffalo, 1853, 1854–1855

Frederick Cook, explorer, physician, and ethnographer

Lewis P. Dayton, Mayor of Buffalo, 1874–1875

William Dorsheimer, United States Congressman and Lt. Governor of New York State.

William Fargo, Mayor of Buffalo, 1862–1865

Abigail Fillmore, wife of U.S. President Millard Fillmore

Caroline C. Fillmore, second wife of U.S. President Millard Fillmore

Barbara Siggers Franklin, mother of singer Aretha Franklin

Dorothy Goetz, first wife of Irving Berlin

Townsend Griffiss, first US aviator killed in Europe in World War II, 1900–1942 (memorial, body not recovered)

Anna Katharine Green, American poet and novelist

Anson Goodyear, first president of the Museum of Modern Art

Charles W. Goodyear, co-founder of the Great Southern Lumber Company

Nathan K. Hall, member of the U.S. House of Representatives

Samuel P. Heintzelman, Civil War major general[8]

Red Jacket, Native American Seneca orator and chief of the Wolf clan.[9]

Edwin Jaeckle, New York Republican State Chairman 1940-1944

Rick James (1948–2004), American musician and composer

Edward Austin Kent, Buffalo architect who perished aboard the RMS Titanic (1854–1912)

Jesse Ketchum, Canadian politician and tannery owner in Toronto and Buffalo

William Ketchum, Mayor of Buffalo, 1844–1845

Northrup R. Knox, Founder of the Buffalo Sabres, banker and community leader

Seymour H. Knox I, businessman, co-founder of F.W. Woolworth Company

John D. Larkin, owner and founder of the Larkin mail order company, 1845–1926

Stanford Lipsey (1927–2016), newspaper publisher

Timothy T. Lockwood, Mayor of Buffalo, 1858–1859

John C. Lord, Presbyterian minister and activist

George Maltby Love, 1831–1887 Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient

Mitchell Mark, pioneer of motion picture exhibition

Darwin D. Martin, Larkin Company executive and commissioner of the Darwin D. Martin House

Joseph G. Masten, Mayor of Buffalo, 1843–1844 & 1845–1846

William McMillan, Buffalo's first Superintendent of Parks.

Henry Moxley, African-American businessman, religious leader and activist

Albert J. Myer father of the U.S. Army Signal Corps[8]

Dr. Roswell Park, founder of Roswell Park Cancer Institute

Ely S. Parker, Seneca attorney, engineer, and tribal diplomat

Ralph Peo, Founder of Frontier Industries, CEO & Chairman of Houdaille Industries

Kristen Pfaff, ex-bassist of American rock band Hole

Hiram Pratt, Mayor of Buffalo

Bennett C. Riley, US Army General and last military Governor of California[8]

Charles Rohlfs, American actor, patternmaker, stove designer and furniture maker

Charles Cary Rumsey, sculptor

William Findlay Rogers, Mayor of Buffalo, US Representative.[8]

Jacob F. Schoellkopf (1819—1899), industrialist

Grace Carew Sheldon (1855–1921), American journalist, author, editor, businesswoman

Henry K. Smith, Mayor of Buffalo, 1850–1851

Alfred P. Southwick, steam-boat engineer, dentist and inventor of the first electric chair

Elbridge G. Spaulding, American lawyer, banker, and politician.[10]

Alfred P. Stone, member of the U.S. House of Representatives

Mary Burnett Talbert

Sheldon Thompson, Mayor of Buffalo

Josiah Trowbridge, physician and Mayor of Buffalo

Richard A. Waite, British-born American architect

John B. Weber, Civil War colonel and United States Congressman, 1885–1889

Chandler J. Wells, Mayor of Buffalo, 1866–1867

John G. Wickser, New York State Treasurer, 1903-1904

Samuel Wilkeson, industrialist and Mayor of Buffalo

Joseph Willcocks, former member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada and Major in the Canadian Volunteers (US Army) during the War of 1812

Craig Lehner, Buffalo Police Officer

17 unidentified victims of the Angola Horror

11 unknown soldiers who died in hospitals in Buffalo during the Civil War[8]