Oak Ridge Cemetery

Historic cemetery in Springfield, Illinois

United States historic place


Oak Ridge Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district

Abraham Lincoln's tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery.
39°49′25″N 89°39′28″W / 39.82361°N 89.65778°W / 39.82361; -89.65778
Area	365 acres (148 ha)
Built	1855
Architect	William Saunders
Architectural style	Classical Revival, Romanesque
NRHP reference No.	95000986 ^[1]
Added to NRHP	August 4, 1995

Oak Ridge Cemetery is an American cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.

The Lincoln Tomb, where Abraham Lincoln, his wife and all but one of their children lie, is here, as are the graves of other prominent Illinois figures. Opened in 1860, it was the third and is now the only public cemetery in Springfield, after the City Cemetery and Hutchinson.^[2]^[3]

The cemetery was designed by William Saunders in the Rural Cemetery Landscape Lawn style.^[2] The location was chosen for its topography, including rolling hills, key to this style. The many eponymous oak trees cover a ridge bordering low-lying Spring Creek, a landscape unusual in central Illinois. The newest, southwest section opened after 1945. Its design follows the Memorial Park style, in which roadways are wide enough for motor vehicles.^[2]

Oak Ridge has a Korean War memorial, the World War II Illinois Veterans Memorial and the Illinois Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The Springfield and Central Illinois African-American History Museum is adjacent.

Notable burials

William Henry Bissell
Jacob Bunn
John Whitfield Bunn
Daniel Pope Cook
John Cook
Shelby Moore Cullom
Jesse K. Dubois
Ninian Edwards, only governor of the Illinois Territory
William Lee D. Ewing
Nellie Grant – daughter of President Ulysses S. Grant
William Herndon
Elijah Iles
William Jayne
John L. Lewis – President of the United Mine Workers from 1919 to 1960
Abraham Lincoln – sixteenth President of the United States during the Civil War
Mary Todd Lincoln – Abraham's wife
Fleetwood Lindley – the last person to have looked upon Lincoln's face in September 1901
Vachel Lindsay
John Alexander McClernand
Alfred Orendorff
John Carroll Power – first custodian of Lincoln's Tomb
Alexander Starne – Illinois Secretary of State and Illinois Treasurer
John T. Stuart – U.S. Congressman, lawyer, law partner of Abraham Lincoln
John Riley Tanner
Arthur Harrison Wilson (Medal of Honor)

Gallery

Korean War Memorial
Close up of Korean War Memorial
Battle of Chosin Reservoir Memorial
Illinois Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Vietnam War Memorial close up
World War II Memorial
The European Theater side of the World War II Memorial
Lincoln's Tomb
Burial room
Lincoln's Tomb
Custodian's Residence
Governor John Riley Tanner's tomb

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c National Register of Historic Places
^ Russo, Edward J. (2009). Oak Ridge Cemetery. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-7385-7723-4. Retrieved August 8, 2019.