Parklawn Memorial Park

Parklawn Memorial Park and Menorah Gardens, commonly called Parklawn Memorial Park, is an American cemetery in Rockville, Maryland, which was established in 1951.

History

Parklawn Memorial Cemetery was begun on the Wilkins Estate, built in 1916 by Robert Crew Wilkins, later an executive of the Wilkins Coffee Co.<ref name=PMP /^[1] (later a part of Maxwell House coffee),^[2] founded in 1923 in Washington, D.C. by a relation, John H. Wilkins, Sr.^[3] Robert was the son of Beriah Wilkins, a former member of the United States Congress who had co-purchased The Washington Post in 1889 and then acted as the paper's manager as well as an editor. Robert Wilkins helped to negotiate the sale of the paper in 1903, shortly before his father's death.^[4]

Robert Wilkins had the estate built with the intention of using it as his summer home. The mansion on the grounds was designed by a noted architect, John Russell Pope, in the Classical Revival style and is considered an historic site. The estate later passed to his brother, John Franklin Wilkins.^[5][6]

The estate passed out of family hands in 1950, being sold to George Moss, who opened the cemetery on the property the following year. The Marlowe family soon purchased an interest in it in 1958 and full ownership in 1986. Stewart Enterprises bought the cemetery in 1992.^[5]

The mansion now serves as the cemetery office. The grounds of the cemetery have expanded to hold the remains of some 5,000 people.^[5]

References

Coordinates: 39°3′57.59″N 77°6′30.16″W / 39.0659972°N 77.1083778°W / 39.0659972; -77.1083778