three thousand years ago, nomadic Indians, called Woodland Mound
Builders, chose this as a ceremonial meeting place and a sacred
burying ground. Among the tree and long the river bluffs they
sculpted both conical and animal effigy mounds from which this
cemetery would later take its name.
November of 1851, city officials purchased the first acres of Mound
Cemetery from Norman Clarke and James Kinzie who, months earlier, had
secured it from one Joseph Antoine Ouilmette, a person of mixed French
and Indian ancestry. Ouilmette brought his Potawatomi wife and
family the Racine area in 1834. Later he helped settle Wausau
and Chicago. Wilmette, Illinois may be named after Ouilmette,
whose signature was represented only by an "X" on the deed to Clarke
and Kinzie. It seems appropriate that a person of Native
American descent actually deeded over the "burial place of his
fathers." According to the writings of Norman Clarke's
daughter, Marion Clarke McMynn, Ouilmette agreed to sell to her father
only on the condition that the mounds be left intact. However, a
cemetery sexton reported the removal of over one hundred Indian
remains from the cemetery later on.
years of controversy preceded the establishment of Mound as a
cemetery. Many citizens agreed that the city's first public
cemetery, located between Thirteenth and Fourteenth Streets from
College avenue to Villa Street (the present site of Winslow School),
was too close to rapidly growing residential areas. But others
saw Mound's location as too far from the city. A few of that
opinion formed their own private corporation and, with 25 acres
purchased from Isaac Taylor and John Cary, created a cemetery called
Evergreen on the lakeshore just south of Racine College (now the
DeKoven Center). Eventually, remains from both Evergreen , which
proved to be too near the lake's eroding banks, and from the Winslow
School site were reburied at Mound. Removal of a body to Mound
cost $2.50 for an adult, $1.50 for a child.
its dedication on June 3, 1852, Mound Cemetery has grown to encompass
about 58 acres, The original cemetery covered 16 acres that ran
along West Boulevard between Twelfth Street and Kinzie Avenue.
The original 1,768 lots were plotted by Dr. Philo Hoy and the first
cemetery committee. They were sold to city residents for $5 each
and to those residing outside the city limited for $7. In 1864
another 30 acres, just to the east on the other side of the bridge,
were added. The final 12 acres were purchased in 1880 and
expanded the cemetery grounds to Horlick Park Drive on the south and
Riverside Park on the east.
first structure in the cemetery was a tool shed built in 1855 for $25.
Where the above-ground crypts are, there was a cave-like affair to
hold corpses until spring thaws allowed grave digging to begin.
A wooden chapel, built in 1875-76, had one room called "the morgue,"
where bodies not yet ready for burial were housed. That chapel
was moved to 1015 Lockwood Avenue in 1952, after William Wadewitz
raised funds for a new stone chapel and office building. At one
time the cemetery also had its own greenhouse. The words "Mound
Cemetery," spelled out in flowers, greeted visitors as they passed
through the gates. A seven-foot wooden picket fence that once
enclosed the cemetery was characterized by local citizens as
unnecessary since "no one inside can get out and no one outside wants
to get in." It was replaced in 1904. An iron picket fence
with ornamental iron gates was given by Mary King at a cost of $2,500.
The present gates were installed in 1954; the fence has been replaced
by chain link.
the ravine, called Sylvan Dell, there was first a wooden bridge
(1876), then a steel replacement (1888), and finally, a poured
concrete bridge (1928), which was restored by the cemetery commission
and the city in 1990. A spring on the south bank of Sylvan Dell
provided the first water supply; it was replaced by wells and the,
sometime after 1910, by city water.
thing that did not require change was the system of cemetery roads,
each an ample eighteen to twenty feel side. Their names, Cedar
or Cyprus, Spruce or Hawthorn, may have reflected the many types of
trees and shrubs inventoried by the cemetery's "architect," Dr. Hoy.
Urban historians recognize cemeteries as being man's first attempt at
permanency; how fortunate for Racine to have this millennial
repository of historical, archaeological, and anthropological
treasures we call Mound Cemetery.
Industries such as the Fish Brothers Wagon Company and the Mitchell
Wagon Works were just two of many local concerns in need of skilled
trades and crafts people. That need prompted the immigration of
countless Danes and Germans and other skilled artisans to this area.
Many of them are buried in historic Mound Cemetery, and certainly
their collective contributions to the Racine community are equally
deserving of recognition.
Racine Walking Tour Guide published in 1994