Ramsey County History – Spring 1980: “Oakland Cemetery: A Safe and Permanent Resting Place”

Oakland Cemetery: A Safe and Permanent Resting Place
Author: Robert Orr Baker

In 1853, the Oakland Cemetery Association was formed and bought forty acres at its current site. The city and county purchased a few acres for burial of the poor. The association added the nearby graveyard of Christ Episcopal Church in 1864 and then bought the land between the two. More land was added in 1904, Zion Cemetery was assimilated in 1907, bringing the total acreage to one-hundred. The cemetery has been run by the association, which consists of lot owners only. The landscaping of the cemetery was designed by Horace Cleveland. The first mausoleum went up in 1892, though no above-ground interments were permitted until 1905. Wall crypts, lawn crypts, and niches were added in 1970. Many locally famous people are buried in the cemetery. The author says “Oakland is a record of and a repository for an important part of the history of the city and the county.” The article includes a map of the cemetery with some individual sites noted.
PDF of Baker article