Eastside Historic Cemetery District in Detroit in Wayne County, Michigan — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Elmwood Cemetery
Photographed by Dale K. Benington, August 13, 2009
1. Elmwood Cemetery Marker
In 1846 when this was a farm on the outskirts of Detroit, a group of gentlemen formed a corporation and purchased the land for use as a public cemetery. The trustees patterned the grounds after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and utilized the ideas of the famous nineteenth century landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. Parent's Creek, renamed Bloody Run after the battle fought between Pontiac and the British in 1763, serves as the focus in the informal country garden landscape. Albert and Octavius Jordon designed the handsome Gothic Revival Chapel, which opened for services in 1856. The chapel's limestone walls blend into the natural ravine and tree-lined paths. Famous people buried here include General Russell Alger, geologist Douglass Houghton, and Territorial Governor Lewis Cass.
Erected 1976 by Michigan History Division, Department of State. (Marker Number S453.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Wars, US Indian. In addition, it is included in the Michigan Historical Commission series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1846.
Location. 42° 20.734′ N, 83° 1.075′ W. Marker is in Detroit, Michigan, in Wayne County. It is in the Eastside Historic Cemetery District. It can be reached from Robert Brady Drive 0.1 miles north of Lafayette Street East. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Detroit MI 48207, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Southeast Michigan. It is also in the American Midwest and on the Great Lakes. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France and also the Northwest Territory.
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Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Michigan's Oldest Jewish Cemetery (approx. 0.2 miles away); Elizabeth Denison Forth (approx. Ό mile away); First Michigan Colored Regiment (approx. 0.3 miles away); The Players (approx. 0.3 miles away); The Battle of Bloody Run (approx. 0.3 miles away); Mt. Elliott Cemetery Veterans Memorial (approx. 0.3 miles away); WGPR-TV (approx. 0.4 miles away); St. John's Presbyterian Church (approx. 0.7 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Detroit.
More about this marker. This marker is located just inside the front entrance of Elmwood Cemetery, and immediately behind the cemetery grounds office building.
Also see . . . Eastside Historic Cemetery District. Elmwood Cemetery is part of the Eastside Historic Cemetery District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Excerpts from the nomination form:
The Eastside Historic Cemetery District is significant for containing the oldest cemeteries remaining in Detroit and the oldest Jewish burial ground in Michigan. The district's cemeteries are also(Submitted on November 1, 2025, by Joel Seewald of Madison Heights, Michigan.)notable for containing the final resting places of many persons prominent in the early history of Michigan and in the political, religious, business, and cultural history of the state and city of Detroit. Two of the district's cemeteries, Mt. Elliott and Elmwood, possess additional importance as fine examples of rural cemetery design of the nineteenth century. Mt. Elliott and Elmwood are also significant in architectural terms for their notable Medieval-style gatehouse structures and, in the case of Elmwood, for its early Gothic chapel. The wealth of funerary art, including fine examples of all the styles and types of monuments in vogue in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, also gives these two cemeteries and the district significance. The cemetery district possesses additional significance for being the site of the Battle of Bloody Run which occurred during Pontiac's 1763 siege of Detroit.Photographed by Dale K. Benington, August 13, 20092. Elmwood Cemetery Marker
...After Mt. Elliott Cemetery, Elmwood Cemetery is the next oldest existing Detroit cemetery. In 1846, a group of Protestant Detroiters conceived the idea of establishing this cemetery in the suburbs of the city. They chose forty-twoacres of 1and adjacent to the Mt. Elliott Cemetery on the George Hunt farm. Additional purchases were made expanding the cemetery to eighty-three acres. In 1849 the cemetery was incorporated as a non-profit corporation. In 1855 a chapel of quarried limestone designed by A. H. Jordan was built and in 1870 a gatehouse was erected. When the Russell Street Cemetery was vacated In 1846, a number of remains were moved to Elmwood Cemetery.Photographed by Dale K. Benington, August 13, 20093. Elmwood CemeteryView of the stream called "Bloody Run" that is the focus of the lanscaping at Elmwood Cemetery.
Photographed by Marc Posner, October 26, 2019
4. Alger Mausoleum
Photographed by Marc Posner, October 26, 2019
5. Fred "Sonic" Smith tombstone
Smith was the bassist for the MC5.
Photographed by Marc Posner, October 26, 2019
6. Thomson Jay Hudson tombstone
Author of "The Law of Physic Phenomena"
Feb. 22, 1834 - May 26, 1903
"How can he be dead who lives immortal in the hearts of men?"
Feb. 22, 1834 - May 26, 1903
"How can he be dead who lives immortal in the hearts of men?"
Credits. This page was last revised on November 4, 2025. It was originally submitted on August 22, 2009, by Dale K. Benington of Toledo, Ohio. This page has been viewed 1,962 times since then and 44 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on August 22, 2009, by Dale K. Benington of Toledo, Ohio. 4, 5, 6. submitted on April 23, 2024, by Marc Posner of Somerville, Massachusetts. • Kevin W. was the editor who published this page.
