Brookdale Cemetery

Last updated
Brookdale Cemetery
Pond and fountain, Brookdale Cemetery.jpg
The pond and fountain at the entrance to Brookdale Cemetery
Brookdale Cemetery
Details
Established1878 [1]
Location
Coordinates 42°15′01″N71°09′56″W / 42.250283°N 71.165558°W / 42.250283; -71.165558
TypePublic
Owned byTown of Dedham
No. of graves28,000+
Website Brookdale Cemetery Viewer
Find a Grave Brookdale Cemetery

Brookdale Cemetery is an historic cemetery in Dedham, Massachusetts, United States. [2] [3] More than 28,000 people are buried there. [3] Mother Brook runs behind it. [4] [5]

Contents

History

For nearly 250 years after it was established, Old Village Cemetery was the only cemetery in Dedham. [6] As immigrant workers moved to Dedham to take jobs in the mills along Mother Brook, it became clear that another cemetery would be needed. [7]

Seeing a need for greater space, the Annual Town Meeting of 1876 established a committee to look into establishing a new cemetery. [8] The committee, composed of the selectmen and Eratus Worthington, Eliphalet Stone, Royal O. Storrs, Winslow Warren, Edwin Whiting, and Alfred Hewins, was charged with determining how large the cemetery should be, locating land for it, and all other matters. [8] Town Meeting accepted the committee's recommendation on October 20, 1877, and appropriated $8,150 to purchase 39 acres from Thomas Barrows [lower-alpha 1] and Thomas Motley with additional land from Walter E. White [13] for a total of 40 acres. [1] Several of those involved in the creation of the cemetery were the agents and superintendents of the mills along Mother Brook. [7]

More than 10 acres of underbrush and trees were cleared in 1877 and more than a mile of roads were built. [14] A plan of lots was laid out with roads named for trees, and paths named for shrubs or flowers. [14] Lots were laid out by Stone to be 15' by 20' and the first was sold in June 1878. [1] The property was surrounded by 700' of picket fence and a stone wall. [1] Three commissioners, appointed by the Selectmen, served three year terms and managed the cemetery. [1] The garden cemetery was intended to be a place of rest and recreation for the entire town. [7]

There were two points of entry, from East Street and Brookdale Avenue, [1] with the main entrance leading to Ash Avenue. [14] The gateways were constructed of Quincy granite and the gates themselves of Michigan pine. [1] Fences and hedges were not included a pond was dug. [14] [1] A receiving tomb was designed by Frederick R. Storrs [14] inside of a heart shaped recess in a hill just inside the cemetery for those who died during the winter. [1] The Gate Lodge Chapel, built in 1903, was designed by Henry Bailey Alden. [15]

In March 1880, Town Meeting set aside a portion of the cemetery, just a block away from St. Mary's Church, for Catholics to be buried. [16] [17] The special section was bound by East Street and White's remaining land on the west and Spruce and Maple Avenues on the south and east. [14] Beginning in 1889, 10% of all proceeds from lot sales were placed in the Perpetual Care Fund. [14]

At the base of the hill with the Civil War monument is an oblong piece of granite stating simply, "Hermit." [1] [18] It marks the grave of James Gately, the Hermit of Hyde Park. [1] [18] In 2014, the Town was close to finishing an expansion providing more than 100 grave sites of the cemetery. [3] Without the expansion, it would have been full in another two years. [3]

Veterans

Detail of the entrance to Veterans Hill Entrance to Veterans Hill at Brookdale Cemetery, detail.jpg
Detail of the entrance to Veterans Hill

After the Civil War, Eliphalet Stone donated a choice plot of land upon a hill and a monument to the sacrifice of Dedham's Union soldiers to the local Grand Army of the Republic chapter. [11] [15] [19] [20] On the hill, which was 200 feet (61 m) in circumference, [1] was a monument including four cannons used in the war that were presumably confiscated from Confederate troops. [15] The monument itself is a granite pedestal with the words "Repose," "Mespha," and "Gilead." [1]

Using funds from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Selectmen hired 50 men to work three days a week during the summer months beginning in 1934. [15] The men cut down the hill bounded by Catalpa Walk, Cedar Avenue, and Hemlock Avenue, removed all necessary trees, removed large stones, and graded the land. [15] At the request of the local chapters of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Selectmen designated a hill on the other side of Catapla Walk to bury veterans of the First World War. [15] The work to prepare this land was also done by men employed through an ERA grant. [15] A spot was prepared to place a monument at a later date. [15]

On the grounds are memorials to veterans of the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Fire Department, and veteran John "Roscoe" Maloney, longtime superintendent of cemeteries in Dedham. [20] There are also monuments to all veterans who served in time of war, to those who served in the Gulf War, and to members of the police and public works departments.

Notable people buried

The gravestone of Fr. Charles A. Finn Gravestone of Fr. Charles A. Finn.jpg
The gravestone of Fr. Charles A. Finn

Notes

  1. Stone was married to Elizabeth Barrows [9] [10] [11] and was a major landowner on nearby High Street. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mother Brook</span> River in the United States of America

Mother Brook is a stream that flows from the Charles River in Dedham, Massachusetts, to the Neponset River in the Hyde Park section of Boston, Massachusetts. Mother Brook was also known variously as East Brook and Mill Creek in earlier times. Digging the brook made Boston and some surrounding communities an island, accessible only by crossing over water, making Mother Brook "Massachusetts' Panama Canal."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635–1699</span>

The history of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635–1699, begins with the first settlers' arrival in 1635 and runs to the end of the 17th century. The settlers, who built their village on land the native people called Tiot, incorporated the plantation in 1636. They sought to build a community in which all would live out Christian love in their daily lives, and for a time did, but the Utopian impulse did not last. The system of government they devised was both "a peculiar oligarchy" and a "a most peculiar democracy." Most freemen could participate in Town Meeting, though they soon established a Board of Selectmen. Power and initiative ebbed and flowed between the two bodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1800–1899</span>

The history of Dedham, Massachusetts, from 1800 to 1899 saw growth and change come to the town. In fact, the town changed as much during the first few decades of the 19th century as it did in all of its previous history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Dowse</span> American politician (1756–1828)

Edward Dowse was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. Born in Charlestown in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Dowse moved to Dedham in March 1798 to escape the yellow fever epidemic in Boston. He purchased five acres of land on both sides of the Middle Post Road, today known as High Street. He lived in an already existing house at first, and then built a home on the land in 1804. His brother-in-law was Samuel Nicholson, the first captain of USS Constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustus Bradford Endicott</span> American politician

Augustus Bradford Endicott was a Massachusetts state legislator and sheriff of Norfolk County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleazer Lusher</span> American colonial politician

Major Eleazer Lusher was a politician and military leader from Dedham, Massachusetts.

Edward Alleyn was a businessman and early American politician. He served on the first board of selectmen in Dedham in 1639 and was a frequent representative to the Great and General Court beginning in 1638. He was town clerk for two years, having first been elected in 1639. As a businessman, he was involved with establishing an iron foundry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Village Cemetery</span> Historic graveyard in Norfolk County, Massachusetts

The Old Village Cemetery is an historic cemetery in Dedham, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliphalet Stone (Massachusetts politician)</span> American politician

Col. Eliphalet Stone was an American politician.

Eliphalet Pond (1704-1795) represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Great and General Court.

William Adams was minister of the First Church and Parish in Dedham.

John Hunting was Ruling Elder of the First Church and Parish in Dedham.

John Dwight was one of the first settlers of Dedham, Massachusetts and progenitor of the Dwight family.

Robert Hinsdale was a colonial American Puritan cleric and a founder of Dedham, Medfield, and Deerfield, Massachusetts who died in the Battle of Bloody Brook.

Francis Chickering was an early settler of Dedham, Massachusetts who served in the Great and General Court of Massachusetts and on that town's Board of Selectmen for 15 years. He was also a teacher in the first public school in America, today well known as the Dedham Public Schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1900–1999</span>

The history of Dedham, Massachusetts in the 20th century saw great growth come to the town. It played host to the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, saw the Endicott Estate and a number of schools constructed, a great deal of economic development, and growth in the number of services provided by the Town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Dedham, Massachusetts</span>

This is a timeline of the history of the town of Dedham, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memorial Hall (Dedham, Massachusetts)</span>

Memorial Hall served as both the town hall of Dedham, Massachusetts from 1868 until 1962 and as the Town's monument to the soldiers from the town who died in the Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dedham, Massachusetts in the American Civil War</span>

The town of Dedham, Massachusetts, participated in the American Civil War primarily through the 630 men who served in the United States Armed Forces during the war. A total of 46 men would die in the war, including in battle, from disease, from wounds sustained in battle, and in prisoner of war camps. The Town of Dedham supported the soldiers and their families both through appropriations raised by taxes, and through donations of supplies sent to the front lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Barrows (mill owner)</span> Massachusetts business executive (1795 – 1880)

Thomas Barrows was a business and civic leader from Dedham, Massachusetts.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Upham, E.C. (June 25, 1904). "The Cemeteries of Dedham". The Dedham Transcript. p. 1.
  2. Smith 1936, p. 144.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Seltz, Johanna (August 28, 2014). "South suburbs running out of cemetery space". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on September 1, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  4. Worthington 1900, p. 2.
  5. Hanson 1976, p. 27.
  6. Smith 1936, p. 146.
  7. 1 2 3 "Phase One of Mother Brook Corridor Study completed". The Dedham Times. Vol. 28, no. 8. February 21, 2020. p. 10.
  8. 1 2 Smith 1936, p. 147.
  9. Bosworth Genealogy: A History of the Descendants of Edward Bosworth who Arrived in America in the Year 1634; with an Appendix Containing Other Lines of American Bosworths. 1936. p. 1805.
  10. Hurd 1884, p. 108.
  11. 1 2 "The Soldiers' Friend Gone". The Boston Globe. February 6, 1886. p. 8. Archived from the original on July 22, 2023. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  12. Dedham Historical Society 2001, p. 89.
  13. Smith 1936, pp. 147–148.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Smith 1936, p. 148.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Smith 1936, p. 149.
  16. "History: St. Mary's Church". St. Mary's Church, Dedham, MA. Archived from the original on February 19, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  17. Sullivan, M.D., James S. (1895). Archdiocese of Boston, St. Mary's Parish, Dedham. A Graphic, Historical, and Pictorial Account of the Catholic Church of New England. Boston and Portland Illustrated Publishing Company. p. 670.
  18. 1 2 "The Hermit of Hyde Park". The Boston Globe. December 13, 1880. p. 4. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  19. Dedham Historical Society 2001, p. 116.
  20. 1 2 Cunningham, Timothy (2014). "Veteran's Monuments and Memorials in the Town of Dedham: Three Self-guided Walking Tours around Dedham" (PDF). Troop 1 Dedham, Boy Scouts of America. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-06-27. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
  21. "Grave Record 0215N". Town of Dedham. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  22. "Monsignor Charles A. Finn, the oldest Roman Catholic priest..." UPI. March 8, 1982. Archived from the original on January 31, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  23. Lapomarda 1992, p. 173.

Works cited