Woodmere Cemetery

Story

Woodmere Cemetery is at West Fort Street and Woodmere Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, in the neighborhood of Springwells Village in what was originally the township of Springwells. Woodmere Cemetery is operated by the Midwest Memorial Group.HistoryThe Woodmere Cemetery Association was organized on July 8, 1867 by a group of prominent Detroit businessmen who purchased approximately 250 acres to establish a rural cemetery for the city of Detroit. Woodmere's layout was designed by Adolph Strauch, who also designed Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Construction began in 1868 and the cemetery was dedicated on July 14, 1869.The first burials occurred prior to the cemetery's official opening. The first burial was for Anna Maria Schwartz, who was buried in Section C in November 1868. She was soon joined by approximately 2,000 removals from Detroit's City Cemetery that were reburied at Woodmere. In addition to these burials, the city of Detroit also contracted for approximately five acres for the burial of the city's poor. Section C is the cemetery's oldest section and where the large Elks' Rest monument can be found. Once Section C was filled, Woodmere ended its contract with the city to bury the city's poor.Notable SectionsThe U.S. Army section is at the cemetery's southern end, next to Dearborn Avenue. This section was purchased by the U.S. Army and contains veterans from the Civil War as well as World War II. In 1896 the Civil War soldiers buried at Fort Wayne were moved to Woodmere as the cemetery there had fallen to decay and the records were in shambles. The flagpole in this section divides the Grand Army of the Republic section on the left from the U.S. Army section on the right.