Mount Olivet Cemetery (Dubuque)
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Mount Olivet Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery located just south of Dubuque, Iowa in Key West, Iowa. It is one of the two main Catholic cemeteries for Dubuque area Catholics. The cemetery is located near Saint Joseph's Catholic Church in Key West. While people from that parish are often buried at Mount Olivet, the cemetery itself is not considered part of the parish.
The cemetery offers regular ground burial, as well as columbarium and masoluem entombment.
[edit] History
Originally, the cemetery was known as the Key West Burying Ground. In 1901 it was given it's current name of Mount Olivet Cemetery. At that time the Mt. Olivet Cemetery Association was formed. This board - led by 11 trustees - started by removing bodies from the Third Street Cemetery - which had been located behind St. Raphael's Cathedral.
The board then hired O.C. Simmonds to improve the cemetery grounds. Simmonds - who was the superintendent of Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois - was widely recognized as a landscape gardener. He set about to improve the cemetery, which had been previously inaccessible to those not walking.
Former Dubuque Archbishops James J. Keane and John J. Keane are both buried in the cemetery. While the men shared the same last name, they were not related. Kenneth Mott - who owned a music store in Dubuque - was buried at the cemetery following his death in an airplane accident. Mott's stone is shaped like a Grand Piano.
St. Joseph's Chapel Mausoleum is located at the northwest corner of the cemetery. The mausoleum was built in 1990, and was later expanded. This building has crypts for mausoleum entombment, as well as columbarium niches for cremated remains. The building also houses a small chapel which is used for the final committal ceremonies.
