Woodland Cemetery is a rural, park-like cemetery, which style was made popular by Mount Auburn Cem in Cambridge MA, dated 1831. First president of WCA was Elias F. Drake, banker, newspaper publisher, and politician. Cemetery board meetings went on for 2 years before directors were chosen! Howard Daniels, a Cincinnati landscape gardener, architect, and draftsman, was hired by the board sometime between Dec 1847 and Feb 1848. The earliest extant plan of the cemetery is from an 1852 map of Xenia, which can be seen at the Greene County Room, Xenia library. A noteworthy feature is that there are no single-family mausoleums on the site despite Woodland being the resting place of several locally prominent families. The cemetery contains 60 acres.
Many family and rural cemeteries were moved to Woodland, as well as the German Reformed cemetery which was on Church St, the Methodist on Third St, and the Associate at Market and West (later the site of McKinley Elementary and now Xenia Towers). The Associate Reformed or Gowdy cemetery is still located on East Third, but has not been active since the 1850s.
Timeline
1845, 25 Feb: Woodland Cemetery Association chartered by Ohio General Assembly
1847, 15 Apr: WCA board of directors selected
1847, Nov: 19 acre site purchased
1847, Dec: Bylaws and rules for interments and visitors released
1847, 7 Dec: First burial, Mary Ann Hollingshead, died of consumption at age 22
1848, Feb: Purchase of less than 1 acre
1848, Apr: Second burial, Margaret Parthena Brown, age 3
* Between 1852-1874, road patterns changed
1857: Cost of burial lot $20 (now $7620)
1876: Cost of burial lot $30 (now $9030)
1877: 19 more acres purchased for $3000; cost of burial lot $40
1892: Perpetual care instituted
1900: Old courthouse columns moved to entrance, cost $205 (current cost $26,100 using
relative wage of unskilled workers); galvanized zinc balls (made by CC Henrie of Xenia) were
on top of columns at one time
1901: Telephone line installed in cemetery superintendent’s office; cement walk from gate to
grounds and water hydrants installed
1912: ornamental iron gate at entrance planned, with possible arch connecting columns (didn’t
happen)
1913: Memorial chapel & receiving vault built, section M; built by Jas. H. Loyd of Xenia with
$12,998 contract, plus $5175.50 in extras (Geo. Dodds & Sons furnished marble & built vault
for $2600, other expenses of furnishings, paying architect &c). Plans & specifications drawn
up by Wm. Kauffman of Pittsburgh PA (nephew of Miss Roberts). Art glass subscribed by Thos.
Taggart; first donor Miss Diana Roberts ($1000) with other money raised ($10,915) and
Woodland Cem Assn had $2000 saved up. 145 individuals, firms, families, and lodges
subscribed to the chapel fund as well.
1914: Lewis Post GAR monument erected
1915: proposal that 3 Civil War cannons be acquired for cemetery (didn’t happen)
1918, Mar: Reported 8242 burials to date
1936: Chapel razed
1937: Caretaker’s house built, using stones from chapel; 8 rooms, 1½ stories. Schenck & Williams
of Dayton, architects; McCurran Bros of Xenia, contractors. Structure stands just south of
former residence, which was razed to build this one; bronze plaques with names of chapel
donors were placed in new house, several of whom are buried here. Stone speakers’ rostrum
erected on “slight rise” at chapel site (still there 1947)
1938: Entrance beautification, under supervision of C.E. Kern of Kern Nurseries, Wyoming OH; work
done by Jeffryes & Son, Xenia; financed by Chandler trust fund (Virgil & George, former
Xenia merchants whose sister Anna is buried here). Entrance widened, sharp incline
reduced, driveway widened, concrete curb & gutters, new foundation for columns,
evergreen hedge added both sides, about 25 trees planted, bronze letters on 2 of 4 columns
1947, Jun: Reported 12,963 burials to date
1953: Reported 13,917 burials to date; additional property acquired
1962: Helen Hooven Santmyer’s book Ohio Town contains a descriptive chapter about this
cemetery
1963: Companion garden, section 1B
1974, 3 Apr: Severe tornado damage to trees and gravestones
1999, May: Mausoleum built; 192 crypts, 460 urn niches
2015: Interior of caretaker’s house remodeled into office & board room setup; hasn’t been
residence since 2010 or so