The All Faiths Cemetery is located in Middle Village, Queens, New York. The 225-acre (91-hectare) cemetery was established in 1850 by Lutheran pastor Frederick W. Geissenhainer, and incorporated in 1852. [1] Originally named Lutheran Cemetery, it was renamed to Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery in 1990. Approximately 540,000 burials have been conducted at the cemetery since its founding. [2]
In 1847 the New York state legislature passed the Rural Cemetery Act, which allowed nonprofit organizations to incorporate and sell burial plots. Seeing an opportunity to provide a lower-cost alternative to existing cemeteries such as Green-wood in Brooklyn, the Rev. Dr. Frederick W. Geissenhainer, the pastor of St. Paul's German Lutheran Church, conferred with representatives of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church (his prior parish). [3] [4] While St. Paul's decided against investing in this endeavor, St. Matthew's and Dr. Geissenhainer pursued the purchase of land in Queens in 1850. The parcels owned by St. Matthews and Dr. Geissenhainer were held and developed separately; he incorporated as the "Lutheran Cemetery" (although members of all faiths were accepted) on March 22, 1852. Additional acreage was purchased over the next few years, and the Lutheran Cemetery bought the St. Matthew's land in 1868. [1] Burials at the Lutheran Cemetery started at $2.50, and plots could be obtained for $7.00. [1]
In 1990, the name was changed to All Faiths Cemetery "to show accommodation to ALL religious and non-religious patrons". [2]
In 2006, vandals allegedly toppled over or destroyed over 60 headstones, some of which the cemetery's president said weighed over 800 pounds (360 kilograms); he asserted that a group of mischievous teenagers had caused the damage and stated, "At first it seemed they were targeting Jewish-sounding names, but then we realized they were just jumping all over." [5]
Beginning in 2014, local news media ran stories questioning why some sections of the cemetery were in disrepair. [6] [7] One article described "Toppled monuments, sunken gravestones and shattered mausoleum windows..." [8] The chairman of the cemetery's board of directors attributed such conditions to a lack of funds and state law restricting use of perpetual-care funds for upkeep of graves where the owners had not paid for such care. [9] [8]
On October 11, 2016, Nell Scovell shared an attempt of hers to visit the headstone of real-estate developer Fred Trump, the father of Donald Trump, who was subsequently elected the 45th U.S. president. Although the cemetery's website listed the grave as one it would show "upon request", Scovell was met with resistance from the cemetery's president, who accused her of criminal trespassing and told her to "Come back after the election." [10]
On September 3, 2019, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed suit against the directors and officers of the cemetery, alleging that they had "exploited their positions at the Cemetery to draw fees, salaries, and loans from the Cemetery's charitable assets while ignoring their basic fiduciary obligation to manage the assets under their control for the benefit of the Cemetery and its property." [11] [12] The lawsuit followed investigations arising from an audit by the New York State Division of Cemeteries in 2014. [12] As of February 2022, the case was still making its way through the legal process.
The following films have been shot at the cemetery:
Calvary Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery in Maspeth and Woodside, Queens, in New York City, New York, United States. With about three million burials, it has the largest number of interments of any cemetery in the United States. Established in 1848, Calvary Cemetery covers 365 acres (148 ha) and is owned by the Archdiocese of New York and managed by the Trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Frederick Christ Trump Sr. was an American real-estate developer and businessman. He was the father of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States.
Maspeth is a residential and commercial community in the borough of Queens in New York City. It was founded in the early 17th century by Dutch and English settlers. Neighborhoods sharing borders with Maspeth are Woodside to the north; Sunnyside to the northwest; Greenpoint, Brooklyn to the west; East Williamsburg, Brooklyn to the southwest; Fresh Pond and Ridgewood to the south; and Middle Village and Elmhurst to the east.
Glendale is a neighborhood in the west-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Forest Hills to the east, Ridgewood to the west, Woodhaven to the south, and Middle Village to the north.
Middle Village is a mainly residential neighborhood in the central section of the borough of Queens, New York City, bounded to the north by the Long Island Expressway, to the east by Woodhaven Boulevard, to the south by Cooper Avenue and the former LIRR Montauk Branch railroad tracks, and to the west by Mount Olivet Cemetery. The small trapezoid-shaped area bounded by Mt. Olivet Crescent to the east, Fresh Pond Road to the west, Eliot Avenue to the north, and Metropolitan Avenue to the south is often counted as part of Middle Village, but is sometimes considered part of nearby Ridgewood.
Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the Queens neighborhoods of Maspeth to the north, Middle Village to the east, and Glendale to the southeast, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bushwick to the southwest and East Williamsburg to the west. Historically, the neighborhood straddled the Queens-Brooklyn boundary.
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The Rural Cemetery Act was a law passed by the New York Legislature on April 27, 1847, that authorized commercial burial grounds in rural New York state. The law led to burial of human remains becoming a commercial business for the first time, replacing the practice of burying the dead in churchyards and on private farmland. One effect of the law was the development of a large concentration of cemeteries along the border between the New York City boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn, often called the "Cemetery Belt".
The Q38 is a bus route in Queens, New York City. The route travels from the Corona and Elmhurst neighborhoods to the Forest Hills neighborhood, running in a "C" shape via the Metropolitan Avenue station in Middle Village. It runs seven days a week but does not operate overnight. Formerly privately operated by Triboro Coach Corporation, the route is now city-operated under the MTA Bus Company brand of MTA Regional Bus Operations.
Julius Freeman was a World War II-era Tuskegee Airman.
Concordia Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Buffalo in Erie County, New York. It consists of a 15-acre (61,000 m2) rectangular plot and was founded in 1859 by three German congregations: First Trinity Lutheran Church, St. Peter's Evangelical Church, and St. Stephen's Evangelical Church. It has an important association with the immigrant German community in Buffalo during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The cemetery includes approximately 21,000 plots.
Maple Grove Cemetery is a historic cemetery at 127-15 Kew Gardens Road in Briarwood/Kew Gardens, Queens, New York City, New York. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) is a United States 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to honor and preserve cultural diversity and to foster tolerance, respect and understanding among ethnic groups. The EIHS was founded in 1984 as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO) and adopted its current name in 2017. The EIHS awards the "Ellis Island Medal of Honor" to naturalized or native-born American citizens "who preserve and celebrate the history, traditions and values of their [ethnic heritage] while exemplifying the values of the American way of life".
Henry A. Hammel was a Union Army soldier in the American Civil War who received the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor.
Patrick Ginley was a Union Army soldier in the American Civil War who received the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor.
Mary Anne Trump was the wife of real-estate developer Fred Trump and the mother of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States.
The family of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) and owner of The Trump Organization, is a prominent American family of German and Scottish descent. They are active in business, entertainment, politics, and real estate. Donald Trump, his third wife Melania, and their son Barron were the first family for the duration of his presidency. Trump's father Fred was the son of German immigrants, while his mother Mary Anne MacLeod was a Scottish immigrant. Trump has five children from three wives and ten grandchildren.
St. Michael's Cemetery is a cemetery located in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York. It is owned and operated by St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Manhattan. It was founded in 1852.
Christian Streile was a private in the United States Army who was awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry during the American Civil War. He was awarded the medal on 3 May 1865 for actions performed during the Battle of Sailor's Creek in Virginia.
Were the Trumps nestled between two Adolphs ... ?
