Homewood Cemetery

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Homewood Cemetery
Homewood Cemetery chapel
Interactive map of Homewood Cemetery
Details
Established1878
Location
1599 South Dallas Ave.,
Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
CountryUnited States
Coordinates40°26′28″N 79°54′32″W / 40.441°N 79.909°W / 40.441; -79.909
TypeUrban
Size650-acre (2.6 km2)
No. of graves77,000+
WebsiteOfficial website

Homewood Cemetery is a historic lawn park cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Opened in 1878, it is located in Point Breeze and is bordered by Frick Park, the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, and the smaller Smithfield Cemetery.[1][2]

History

Homewood Cemetery was established in 1878 on approximately 175 acres that had formerly been part of the East End estate of William Wilkins. It was created to provide a suitable burial place for the eastern section of Pittsburgh.[3] From its founding, Homewood was a non-denominational and non-discriminatory cemetery, serving Pittsburgh residents across religious and cultural communities.[4][5] Developed as a lawn-park cemetery, Homewood reflected a late nineteenth-century movement toward more uniform and naturalistic cemetery landscapes than those associated with the earlier rural cemetery tradition.[6]

Schoonmaker monument (Jakob Otto Schweizer, sculptor)

Landscape and architecture

Homewood's lawn-park design emphasized open vistas, broad lawns, and a more streamlined landscape than the denser plantings and elaborate layouts associated with earlier rural cemeteries.[7] William Allen, superintendent of the cemetery from 1907 to 1935, had previously worked at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and incorporated aspects of rural cemetery landscape design into Homewood's grounds. Some trees from the former estate of William Wilkins, which became the site of Homewood Cemetery, were retained as the landscape developed.[8]

The cemetery's principal entrance complex was erected in 1923 and designed by architects Colbert T. A. MacClure and Albert H. Spahr. It includes a Gothic Revival chapel and a Tudor Revival gatehouse and administration building.[9] Homewood also contains numerous late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century family mausoleums, including Romanesque Revival and Beaux-Arts examples associated with prominent Pittsburgh families.[10] Among the cemetery's distinctive funerary monuments is the pyramid mausoleum of William Harry Brown and his family, a 35-foot Egyptian-inspired structure that became one of Homewood's recognizable landmarks.[11][12] The cemetery has been a designated arboretum since 2014; more than 40 species of trees are represented throughout the grounds.[13][14]

Preservation and interpretation

The Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund was established on July 11, 1989, as a nonprofit organization to promote the appreciation and preservation of the cemetery's cultural, historical, and natural resources.[15] The fund has supported preservation and restoration projects, historical documentation, and public interpretation of the cemetery. In 2010, a yearlong project documented the stained-glass windows and architecture of Homewood's private family mausoleums, producing more than 460 photographs that became part of the cemetery's records.[16]

Chinese burial section

Beginning in 1901, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association purchased and organized burial lots in Section 3 of Homewood Cemetery for members of Pittsburgh's Chinese community. Approximately 250 Chinese Americans are buried in the area.[17] The lots were originally intended for temporary burials, reflecting a practice in which remains could later be disinterred and returned to China for reburial with family ancestors. A 1937 United Press report, for example, described the planned burial of William Yic at Homewood for ten years before his remains were to be removed and sent to China.[18] Additional adjoining lots were acquired in 1903, 1918, and 1929, but many burials became permanent when repatriation was not possible.[19] In 2018, a grant from the Hillman Foundation supported the restoration and resetting of nearly 200 markers in the section.[20]

Notable interments

Business leaders

Political leaders

Military leaders

  • John Wilkins Jr. (1761–1816), Quartermaster General of the United States Army 1796–1802

Artists and musicians

Science and medicine

Sports figures

Religion

Others

See also

References

  1. "Point Breeze Map". Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
  2. Gillen, Amanda Dunyak (October 10, 2019). "Memory and Mourning: A Frick History of Homewood Cemetery". The Frick Pittsburgh. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  3. Richardson, James B. III; Carlisle, Ronald C. (1980). "The Archaeological Significance of Mausoleums". Markers: The Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies. 1. University Press of America: 159. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  4. Wecht, Ben (January 11, 2021). "Where the Dead Go". Pittsburgh Quarterly. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  5. "The Homewood Cemetery – The 2014 Place Treasure". Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition. September 12, 2014. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  6. Gillen, Amanda Dunyak (October 10, 2019). "Memory and Mourning: A Frick History of Homewood Cemetery". The Frick Pittsburgh. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  7. Gillen, Amanda Dunyak (October 10, 2019). "Memory and Mourning: A Frick History of Homewood Cemetery". The Frick Pittsburgh. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  8. Bartsche, Patti Martin (June 2020). "Brought to Life: The Homewood Cemetery's History". American Cemetery & Cremation. pp. 28–33.
  9. Donnelly, Lu. "Homewood Cemetery". SAH Archipedia. Society of Architectural Historians. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  10. Donnelly, Lu. "Homewood Cemetery". SAH Archipedia. Society of Architectural Historians. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  11. Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons (3rd ed.). McFarland. p. 95.
  12. Speranza, Lisa (2019). The Homewood Cemetery. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. p. 47. ISBN 9781467104128.
  13. "Memory and Mourning: A Frick History of Homewood Cemetery". The Frick Pittsburgh. October 10, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  14. "Groves: The Homewood and Allegheny Cemeteries" (PDF). Shady Ave. Spring 2021. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  15. "Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund Newsletter" (PDF). Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund. 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  16. Pitz, Marylynne (August 22, 2010). "Photos: A Glimpse of Bygone Elegance". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. E1.
  17. Sheedy, Clare (May 27, 2022). "Picturing Asian-American life in Squirrel Hill in the '80s". PublicSource. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  18. "Body Prepared for Ten Year Wait for Burial". DuBois Daily Express. DuBois, Pennsylvania. United Press. August 20, 1937. p. 7. Retrieved September 6, 2026. {{cite news}}: Wikipedia Library link in |url= (help)
  19. "Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund Newsletter" (PDF). Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund. 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  20. "Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund Newsletter" (PDF). Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund. 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  21. Skrabec, Quentin R. H.J. Heinz: A Biography. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2009, p. 205.
  22. "Ernest T. Weir Dies At 81." Wall Street Journal. June 27, 1957.
  23. Dodge, Andrew R. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: 1774–2005. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005, p. 1232.
  24. Alzo, Lisa A. Pittsburgh's Immigrants. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Pub., 2006, p. 48.
  25. Jackson, Kenneth T.; Markoe, Karen; and Markoe, Arnie. The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives. Detroit: Gale, 1998, p. 180.
  26. Forr, James and Proctor, David. Pie Traynor: A Baseball Biography. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2010, p. 8.

Further reading

  • Speranza, Lisa (2019). The Homewood Cemetery. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9781467104128.
  • Power, Edward M. (c. 1930). Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburgh's Illustrious "City of the Dead". Pittsburgh: Homewood Cemetery.
  • Wu, Chien-shiung (1982). The Chinese in Pittsburgh, A Changing Minority Community in the United States (Ph.D. dissertation). University of Pittsburgh.