West Laurel Hill Cemetery

West Laurel Hill Cemetery is a cemetery located in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1869 and is the site of many notable burials. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 (#92000991).[2] West Laurel Hill was designed as a rural cemetery and is a "sister" institution to the Laurel Hill Cemetery nearby in Philadelphia.

West Laurel Hill Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
West Laurel Hill Cemetery
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Location	227 Belmont Ave., Bala Cynwyd, Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40°0′53″N 75°13′23″W
Built	1869
Architect	Trumbauer, Horace; Cope & Stewardson
Architectural style	Classical Revival, Beaux Arts, Gothic
NRHP reference No.	92000991[1]
Added to NRHP	August 14, 1992

West Laurel Hill was the first cemetery to ever map its entire grounds on a smart phone device, enabling visitors to search and navigate to grave locations, and "access photos, video, text and other information." [3] Visitors can also use the app to navigate through tours of the cemetery and visit the grave sites of interesting and famous persons.

Notable burials

• Timothee Adamowski (1858-1943), composer, violinist and first conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra
• Green Adams (1812–1884), represented Kentucky's 6th congressional district from 1847–1849 and from 1859-1861.[4]
• David Hayes Agnew (1818–1892), noted surgeon. Attended President James Garfield's gunshot wound.
• Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1898-1989), first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in the United States.[5]
• Hobey Baker (1892-1918), namesake of U.S. college hockey's outstanding player award and only member of both the College Football and Hockey Halls of Fame.
• Frank Bettger (1888-1981), Major League baseball infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals.
• Richard Binder (1839–1912) US Marine Corps sergeant on the USS Ticonderoga during the Civil War and recipient of the Medal of Honor.[6]
• Caroline G. Boughton (1854-1905), educator and philanthropist.
• Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973), biographer.
• Benjamin Markley Boyer (1823–1887), represented Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district from 1865 to 1869.[7]
• Edward G. Budd (1870-1946), founder of the Budd Company.
• Alan Calvert (1875-1944), weightlifter, bodybuilder, founder Milo Bar-bell Company
• Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis (1850–1933), founder of the Curtis Publishing Company, publisher of the Ladies' Home Journal and the Saturday Evening Post.[8]
• Loren Eiseley (1907–1977), anthropologist.[9]

Cemetery in the Fall

Sphinx on the Drake tomb

• Otto Eisenlohr (1852-1914), cigar manufacturer (see Eisenlohr–Bayuk Tobacco Historic District)
• Dave Garroway (1913–1982) American television personality, founding host and anchor of NBC's "Today" from 1952 to 1961[10]
• Jacob Augustus Geissenhainer (1839–1917), represented New Jersey's 3rd congressional district from 1889 to 1895.[11]
• Robert Cooper Grier (1794-1870) Associate Justice of The United States Supreme Court (1846-1870).
• Alfred C. Harmer (1825–1900), represented Pennsylvania's 5th congressional district from 1871 to 1875, and from 1877 until his death in 1900.[12]
• Herman Haupt (1817–1905), Union Army General and engineer.[13]
• Chevalier Jackson (1865-1958), famed physician, teacher, and "father of endoscopy"
• Anna Jarvis (1864–1948), originator of Mother's Day who then spent most of her life fighting its commercialization.
• Eldridge R. Johnson (1867-1945), Founder of the Victor Talking Machine Company.
• John Ernst Worrell Keely (1837-1898) - fraudulent inventor who claimed to have invented a new motive power
• John Lawrence LeConte (1825-1883), 19th century American naturalist and entomologist after whom two birds are named.
• Hy Lit (Hyman Aaron Lit) (1934–2007), legendary Philadelphia radio & TV broadcaster.
• William H. Luden (1859-1949), developer of the menthol throat lozenge
• Harry Lyons (1866-1912), professional baseball player[14]
• Frank M. Mayo (1839-1896) famed 19th century stage actor
• Robert M. McBride (1879–1970) publisher and defendant in the obscenity prosecution of novelist James Branch Cabell
• Samuel K. McConnell, Jr. (1901–1985), represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives from 1944 to 1957.[15]
• Charles O'Neill (1821–1893), U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district, Pennsylvania State Representative, Pennsylvania State Senator
• Daniel Pabst (1826–1910), cabinetmaker
• Teddy Pendergrass (1950–2010), soul and R&B singer

Figure on Soulas tomb

• Al Reach (1840-1928), professional baseball player, sporting good manufacturer; his name was on American League baseballs until 1976
• John Reilly (1836–1904), represented Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district from 1875 to 1877.[16]
• Jack Rose (1971–2009), American musician noted for his exploration of experimental and traditional acoustic guitar styles.[17]
• Dennis Sandole (1913-2000), jazz guitarist, composer and music educator
• William I. Schaffer (1867-1953), Pennsylvania State Supreme Court Justice
• Coleman Sellers II (1827–1907), prominent engineer and inventor.[18]
• Ben Shibe (1838-1922), sportsman, sporting goods salesman, namesake of Shibe Park at 21st & Lehigh
• Rachel H. Shoemaker (1838-1915), founder of the National School of Elocution and Oratory in Philadelphia.[19]
• Matthew Simpson (1811–1884), a notable Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
• David Smyrl (1935–2016), actor and writer, known for his role of Mr. Handford (Hooper's Store) on Sesame Street[20]
• John Batterson Stetson (1830–1906), famous American hat manufacturer and founder of the John B. Stetson Company; namesake of Stetson University in Florida.[21]
• Edwin Sydney Stuart (1853–1937), Mayor of Philadelphia from 1891 to 1895 and Governor of Pennsylvania from 1907 to 1911.[22]
• Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856–1915), mechanical and industrial engineer, management consultant, and "father of scientific management".

Entrance to the Widener tomb

• Joseph Earlston Thropp (1847–1927), member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.[23]
• Ellwood J. Turner (1886-1948), Pennsylvania State Representative for Delaware County (1925-1948), Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1939-1941)
• Flora M. Vare (1874 - May 27, 1962), Pennsylvania State Senator from 1925 to 1928
• William Scott Vare (December 24, 1867 – August 7, 1934), U.S. Senator-elect, U.S. Congressman, Pennsylvania State Senator, Republican political boss and construction contractor
• William Wagner (1796-1885), founder of the Wagner Free Institute of Science
• Charles F. Warwick, (1852-1913) mayor of Philadelphia.
• Grover Washington, Jr. (1943-1999), musician
• George Austin Welsh (1878–1970), represented Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district from 1923 to 1932.[24]
• Harry Wright (1835-1895), pioneer of professional baseball, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Charlotte Wardle Cardeza (née Drake) (1854-1939), wealthy socialite and survivor of the RMS Titanic sinking.[25]

In popular culture

In the season 7 episode of Mad Men "The Milk and Honey Route" character Betty Hofstadt-Francis tells her daughter that she wants to be buried in the Hofstadt family plot in West Laurel Hill Cemetery.

References

Figure on the doorway of the Spink tomb

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. PENNSYLVANIA - Montgomery County, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed August 29, 2007.
3. Flying Kite Philadelphia News, West Laurel Hill News. Accessed July 21, 2011.
4. Green Adams, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 29, 2007.
5. "Sadie T. M. Alexander". Washington Post. November 5, 1989
6. Richard Binder, Home of Heroes. Accessed August 29, 2007.
7. Benjamin Markley Boyer, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 29, 2007.
8. Cyrus Herman Kotzschmer Curtis, Find A Grave. Accessed August 29, 2007.
9. Loren Eiseley, Find A Grave. Accessed August 29, 2007.
10. "David Garroway". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
11. Jacob Augustus Geissenhainer, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 29, 2007.
12. Alfred Crout Harmer, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 29, 2007.
13. Herman Haupt, Find A Grave. Accessed August 29, 2007.
14. "Harry Pratt Lyons". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
15. Samuel Kerns McConnell, Jr., Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 29, 2007.
16. John Reilly, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 29, 2007.
17. Condolences for Jack P. Rose, West Laurel Hill Cemetery. Accessed December 15, 2009.
18. History for Coleman Sellers, West Laurel Hill Cemetery. Accessed December 14, 2009.
19. Willard, Frances Elizabeth, 1839-1898; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice, 1820-1905 (1893). A woman of the century; fourteen hundred-seventy biographical sketches accompanied by portraits of leading American women in all walks of life. Buffalo, N.Y., Moulton. p. 655. Retrieved 8 August 2017. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
20. Cook, Bonnie L. (2016-03-26). "David L. Smyrl, Mr. Handford on 'Sesame Street'". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
21. Tradition, Heritage, and Character at Stetson University, Stetson University. Accessed March 17, 2009.
22. Edwin Sydney Stuart, The Political Graveyard. Accessed August 29, 2007.
23. Joseph Earlston Thropp, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 29, 2007.
24. George Austin Welsh, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 29, 2007.
25. Charlotte Wardle Cardeza:Titanic Survivor Accessed February 14, 2017.

External links

• West Laurel Hill Cemetery web site
• Find A Grave