Cemetery Tour

I mentioned earlier that I spent a day while in Cleveland touring a beautiful cemetery, Lakeview. 

 James Garfield, our 20th President, is buried in this tomb

 The dome of the tomb from upstairs

The monument

A closeup of one of the windows that circle the building.

While I was wandering around there I ran into a very nice man who was familiar with the cemetery and gave me a little tour.  The first grave he showed me was this one;

According to my guide the story is that this little girl's mother died and was buried at Lakeview.  Sometime during the night after the funeral the little girl snuck out without being noticed and went to her mother's grave.  It was morning before the rest of her family realized she was missing and she was found just like this, frozen to death on the grave of her mother. 

Next he took me to Wade Chapel.  Jeptha Wade, Jr. had the chapel built as a memorial to his grandfather, Jeptha Wade, founder of Western Union.

Local architects Hubbell and Benes designed the Greek Revival exterior.

Junior found this window while on a trip and had it shipped home to build the chapel around.

The window is by Louis Comfort Tiffany, and, not content with only a window, Mr. Wade commissioned Tiffany to do the rest of the interior. 

Wade Chapel is one of 4 surviving buildings in the country with Tiffany interiors.

 Collinwood School Monument

This is the monument that marks the mass grave of the teachers and children lost in the Lakeview School Fire in Collinwood, Ohio.  The school was heated by steam and cleaned with oil and kerosene.  On March 4, 1908 an overheated steam pipe in conjunction with the oiled floors caused a fire.  The teachers attempted to evacuate the 366 students, two guiding the students down the stairs and the others stationed at doors.  The central stairwell acted like a chimney and the stairs burned so rapidly that they collapsed, killing 172 students and 2 teachers. 

The names of the dead are inscribed on the back of the monument, but the picture I took isn't clear enough for them to be readable.  Many of the last names on the list are repeated.  It looks like several families lost two, three, even four children. 

The Collinwood School fire remains known as one of the worst catastrophes of its type in the country.  It is also the reason all schools now are required to hold fire drills.