Oak Lawn Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker at Oak Lawn Cemetery has to say, and friend, this one's worth slowing down for. This is a place that was growing before it was even official, and it's been growing ever since. Let me walk you through it.

The year was 1878 when William T. Perry deeded a piece of property to R. M.

Collins, the mayor of Decatur, for a public burial ground for area residents. That's the moment Oak Lawn Cemetery was officially established. But here's the thing.

The ground didn't wait for the paperwork. At least one marked grave was already there, that of Eli Lindley, who died in 1867. Eleven years before the official deed was signed, somebody was already being laid to rest on that land.

And it goes back even further than that. Other marked graves dating as early as 1857 are believed to have been relocated to this site after the public cemetery's founding. Eighteen fifty-seven.

That's not a typo. This land has been holding people's names for a long, long time. From 1878 forward, the city of Decatur managed the cemetery, and during those decades, local residents C. and Caroline Harmon donated land to the city on four separate occasions to enlarge the property.

Four times. That is a particular kind of generosity, the kind that keeps on giving long after you're gone. Then in 1928, a cemetery association was formed by E.

P. Gibson, W. P.

Thurmond, and T. J. Dillehay, and in response to that formation, the city stepped back and handed over management.

The association carried the responsibility from 1928 all the way to 1986, enlarging the grounds again in 1947 and again in 1960, making room, always making room. When the association dissolved in 1986, the City of Decatur stepped back in and resumed responsibility. Today, Oak Lawn Cemetery covers over forty acres and is the final resting place of more than thirty-seven hundred area residents.

Some of them were there before anyone thought to make it official. That says something about a place. And about the people who kept tending it.

What the marker says

Oak Lawn Cemetery was officially established in 1878 when William T. Perry deeded property to R. M. Collins, the mayor of Decatur, for a public burial ground for area residents. At that time however, at least one marked grave, that of Eli Lindley (d. 1867), existed, indicating that a private cemetery had first been established here. Other marked graves dating as early as 1857 are believed to have been relocated to this site after the public cemetery's founding. The city of Decatur managed the cemetery between 1878 and 1928. During that time, local residents C. and Caroline Harmon generously donated land to the city on four occasions to enlarge the cemetery property. In 1928, in response to the recent formation of a cemetery association by E. P. Gibson, W. P. Thurmond, and T. J. Dillehay, the city ceased its management of Oak Lawn. Between 1928 and 1986, the cemetery association maintained the burial ground, which was again enlarged in 1947 and 1960. In 1986, after the dissolution of the association, the City of Decatur resumed responsibility for the graveyard. Now consisting of over forty acres of property, Oak Lawn Cemetery is the final resting place of over 3,700 area residents.