Cypress Hills Cemetery (New York City)

Cypress Hills Cemetery
Details
Cypress Hills Cemetery main office
Show map of New York City Show map of New York Location of Cypress Hills Cemetery
Established	1848
Location	Brooklyn and Queens, New York
Country	United States
Coordinates	40°41′21″N 73°52′31″W / 40.68917°N 73.87528°W / 40.68917; -73.87528Coordinates: 40°41′21″N 73°52′31″W / 40.68917°N 73.87528°W / 40.68917; -73.87528
Website	CypressHillsCemetery.org

Main Entrance of Cypress Hills Cemetery

Mae West's tomb visited by Lars Jacob

Cypress Hills Cemetery was the first non-sectarian/non-denominational cemetery corporation organized in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City. The Cemetery is run as a non-for-profit organization and is located at 833 Jamaica Avenue in Brooklyn. The Cemetery occupies both boroughs, and its 225 acres are divided by the Jackie Robinson Parkway. Cypress Hills Cemetery retains its two primary entrances at Jamaica Avenue (Cypress Hills, Brooklyn) and Cooper Avenue (Glendale, Queens).

History

Established in 1848 east of the Ridgewood Reservoir, Cypress Hills Cemetery was opened for burials in 1851 and was designed to emulate a "rural cemetery" setting. A section of the cemetery was designated as the Cypress Hills National Cemetery in 1862 as a military burial ground for soldiers of the American Civil War. In 1941 it received the bodies of 235 Confederate prisoners who died on Hart Island.

In the late 20th century, there was a period of mismanagement and controversy, and finally declared bankruptcy. In 2003, there were charges by Ravi Batra, one of its former court-appointed guardians, who accused another of trying to seize control by quietly installing one of his own employees as president of the cemetery's re-formed board of directors in a bid to gain control of the 200-acre (0.81 km²) cemetery.^[1]

Today, the cemetery serves as the final resting place for over 400,000 individuals. The history of Cypress Hills Cemetery is featured in the book Images of America: Cypress Hills Cemetery by Stephen C. Duer and Allen B. Smith.

Features

The cemetery features:

Cypress Hills Abbey, built in 1926^[2]
Memorial Abbey, built in 1936
Melrose Memorial Garden, built in 2008
225 acres of Rural cemetery
An urn garden
War of 1812 Memorial
Civil War Soldiers plot
One Commonwealth war grave of Private Fred Wilshear, a World War I soldier of the British Army Labour Corps^[3]

Notable interments

Vytautas Bacevičius (1905–1970), Lithuanian pianist and composer^[4]
Eubie Blake (1887–1983), musician and composer
Nixzmary Brown (1998–2006), abused child and murder victim
Homer Lusk Collyer (1881–1947), recluse and hoarder
Langley Collyer (1885–1947), recluse and hoarder
James J. Corbett (1866–1933), World Heavyweight boxing champion
Hiram Cronk (1800–1905), last surviving veteran of the War of 1812
William T. Dixon (1833–1909), Baptist minister
Mock Duck (1879–1941), New York Chinese Chinatown gang leader
Monk Eastman (1873–1920), notorious New York Gang leader
Lee Falk (1911–1999), cartoonist, creator of The Phantom
Bob "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson (1845–1894), major league baseball player, manager
Kate Fox (1837–1892), spiritualist
Maggie Fox (1833–1893), spiritualist
Dr. Thomas Holmes, Physician who is considered the father of American embalming^[5]
Irving Lehman (1876–1945), Chief Judge of the NY Court of Appeals
George Leonidas Leslie (1842–1878) Architect, Noted Bank Robber
Rosetta Lenoire (1911–2002), actress, National Medal of the Arts winner
Wenjian Liu (1982–2014), NYPD officer, slain during the December 2014 killings of NYPD officers
George H. Mills (1843–1885), murderer
Piet Mondrian (1872–1944), Dutch painter
Victor Moore (1876–1962), actor, comedian
Jackie Robinson (1919–1972), Hall of Fame baseball player, the first African-American player in the major leagues
Rufus L. Perry (1834–1895), journalist, Baptist minister
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (1874–1938), founder of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City
Capital Steez (1993–2012) Former member of Pro Era, Founder of Beast coast movement
Mae West (1893–1980), actress, comedian, and playwright; second floor of the Cypress Hills Abbey
Josh White (1914–1969), musician
John B. Wood (1827–1884), journalist

In popular culture

In Marvel Comics, Cypress Hill Cemetery served as the headquarters of the supernatural superhero team, The Midnight Sons. The cemetery was also introduced in many Ghost Rider comics featuring the Legion of Vengeance.

References

↑ Newman, Andy (December 3, 2003). "New Woe for Troubled Cemetery". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-30. After years of mismanagement and controversy, Cypress Hills Cemetery, one of the city's largest, is out of receivership and emerging from bankruptcy. But new charges arose yesterday as one of its former court-appointed guardians accused another of trying to seize control through stealth and self-dealing. In court papers filed yesterday in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, the former receiver, Ravi Batra, claims that the former court-appointed managing agent installed its own employee as president of the cemetery's re-formed board of directors in a bid to gain control of the 200-acre (0.81 km²) cemetery.
↑ Alex Witchel (May 8, 2000). "Blown Sideways, but Landing on Broadway". New York Times. West is buried in the Cypress Hills Abbey, a mausoleum built in 1926, with her parents and siblings.
↑ CWGC Casualty record.
↑ Cahiers Lithuaniens, November 30, 2005
↑ Moynihan, Colin (May 26, 2014). "A Quest to Recognize Forgotten Achievements Still Relevant in Everyday Life". NY Times. Retrieved May 27, 2014. Andrew Carroll placed a plaque for Dr. Thomas Holmes next to his burial site at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn.

External links

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