Indianapolis had only cramped, traditional Greenlawn Cemetery downtown in its early history. In 1863, a private board formed and bought the site of Crown Hill. The group hired John Chislett, landscape architect and cemetery superintendent of Pittsburgh, to design the grounds. Using the Victorian Romantic landscape ethic, Chislett retained many natural geographic features and laid out meandering roads that complemented the site. Over the years, Crown Hill became the choice of nearly all who could afford private burial. (source)
During the Civil War, old Greenlawn Cemetery filled rapidly with Union and captured Confederate dead. In 1866, federal authorities requested a portion of Crown Hill Cemetery to be set aside for Civil War internments. The government bought 1.4 acres and laid out an arc-shaped lot. Artillery pieces and a circular walk surrounding a flagpole commemorate the fallen soldiers. This portion of the cemetery has been listed separately in the National Register of Historic Places. (source)
All images were taken by and copyright Jason Humbracht | Indiana Architectural & Travel Photographer
Jason Humbracht | jhumbracht@gmail.com | 317 820 9010
