Visitors to the  City Cemetery immediately notice the important work that has taken place on the grounds since last spring [2007].  Monuments and stonework have become markedly brighter and more imposing.  At the present time workers are making extensive structural and cosmetic repairs to the Johnson Mausoleum, replacing the front columns, grinding out and re-tuckpointing all stone-to-stone joints, cleaning the limestone, repairing the heavily damaged white marble doors, and treating the deteriorating and delaminated stonework with a consolidant.  Inspired by the changes, the grateful heirs are exploring the possibility of purchasing and installing an iron fence on the perimeter of the family plot, since there is good evidence that such a fence existed there at some time in the past. 

Many family plots in the City Cemetery are bordered by some type of curbing, of either cut limestone or poured concrete, which in some plots acts as a retaining wall to help level the grave sites.  Nearly all the curbing is in a state of disrepair, and we are repouring and replacing large sections of it as we work through the site.  Such replacement can involve not only a huge amount of digging, but also stump removal where volunteer trees have pushed through, broken, or otherwise disrupted the borders.

Another crew is working on all three faces of the 2000-foot stone wall running along Fourth and Oak.  This is a substantial effort, which requires removing and replacing all loose masonry joints and resetting every loose stone.  Although the wall cleaned up very nicely, the cleaning efforts highlighted the attention required to maintain its shape and stability. 

In summary, although some major items remain to be completed (e.g., paving, lighting, reworking of the two buildings, and the interpretive signage program), we have nevertheless accomplished a great deal in the space of a year.  Not only has the work produced many much-needed improvements in the City Cemetery, but it has also involved craftsmanship of the highest quality.  It is an achievement in which the city and the workers involved can take enormous pride.    (Spring 2008)

All photographs by Fred Zahn.

Visitors to the  City Cemetery immediately notice the important work that has taken place on the grounds since last spring [2007].  Monuments and stonework have become markedly brighter and more imposing.  At the present time workers are making extensive structural and cosmetic repairs to the Johnson Mausoleum, replacing the front columns, grinding out and re-tuckpointing all stone-to-stone joints, cleaning the limestone, repairing the heavily damaged white marble doors, and treating the deteriorating and delaminated stonework with a consolidant.  Inspired by the changes, the grateful heirs are exploring the possibility of purchasing and installing an iron fence on the perimeter of the family plot, since there is good evidence that such a fence existed there at some time in the past. 

Many family plots in the City Cemetery are bordered by some type of curbing, of either cut limestone or poured concrete, which in some plots acts as a retaining wall to help level the grave sites.  Nearly all the curbing is in a state of disrepair, and we are repouring and replacing large sections of it as we work through the site.  Such replacement can involve not only a huge amount of digging, but also stump removal where volunteer trees have pushed through, broken, or otherwise disrupted the borders.

At this writing, a crew is still working to remove some of the most badly stained marble monuments, and also to "point" areas of loose and delaminating stone with a color-matched mortar.  This work is an important first step in conserving our many tablet-style markers since it is in these areas of cracked and delaminating material that we face our greatest problems of water infiltration and accelerated decay. 

Another crew is working on all three faces of the 2000-foot stone wall running along Fourth and Oak.  This is a substantial effort, which requires removing and replacing all loose masonry joints and resetting every loose stone.  Although the wall cleaned up very nicely, the cleaning efforts highlighted the attention required to maintain its shape and stability. 

Finally, we are concentrating on reclaiming land on the west side of the cemetery where a neighboring business had encroached on cemetery property.  The offending loading dock and blacktop paving have both been removed; the misplaced chain-link fence, although historic in its own right, has been removed; and our new pressed-face/poured concrete retaining wall is going in truckload by truckload.  When the wall is finished and back-filled, a new steel security fence, similar to the one along the railroad but somewhat shorter, will be installed along the newly redefined property line.

In summary, although some major items remain to be completed (e.g., paving, lighting, reworking of the two buildings, and the interpretive signage program), we have nevertheless accomplished a great deal in the space of a year.  Not only has the work produced many much-needed improvements in the City Cemetery, but it has also involved craftsmanship of the highest quality.  It is an achievement in which the city and the workers involved can take enormous pride.    (Spring 2008)