"Formal burial in the United States, prior to 1860, was primarily restricted to interment of the body on the grounds of a church or meetinghouse, or occasionally within the church itself. The bell of the church was rung during the last hours of life, and after death, in an effort to keep evil spirits at bay, and to give the departing soul some advantage upon its way. The body was, in English tradition, placed in a casket. Graves were laid facing east and west, with the head to the west; all available space was used, with burials very close together, and at times on top of each other. As burial was within the church yard, tombstones were commonly seen on meeting day, reminding the congregation of the dead, and again, of death’s inevitability. Headstones were, if afforded, carved with representations such as death’s head or Father Time extinguishing the candle of life; and also carried verbal warnings of mortality, and of the necessity for virtue, such as: “Fugit hora” (time flies) and “Memento mori” (remember that you must die). Cemeteries were dreary places affording little room or light for vegetation, and thereby not encouraging the passerby to linger and to appreciate."
" As the 19th century progressed, towns grew to cities, and population increased proportionally. For reasons of public health and overcrowding, burial grounds began to be located outside of population centers, no longer on church ground. These cemeteries spawned the “Rural” Cemetery Movement."
"The rural cemetery was designed with romantic vision, based upon English landscape gardening. Nature, in contrast to an increasingly urban setting, was idealized and sought out; trees were a necessity, including evergreens, spruce and pines, and deciduous varieties."
"The first official cemetery established for Springfield residents was the City Graveyard, four acres of land donated by Elijah Iles in the 1820s. Around 1830 John Hutchinson laid out a tract of six more acres adjoining the City Graveyard to the west. For many years, Hutchinson’s Cemetery was the primary burial ground for Springfield, located five blocks west of the State Capitol.
In June 1855, Charles H. Lanphier, a member of the Springfield City Council, advocated for the purchase of seventeen additional acres of land north of Springfield to establish a new municipal cemetery outside of the city. The city’s growth, sanitation issues, noise pollution, and need for more burial space all contributed to this demand. Springfield officials purchased seventeen acres north of the city, and in 1856 they purchased an additional eleven and a half acres to further expand the cemetery. A city ordinance was passed around this same time to prohibit the formation or expansion of burial grounds within city limits. Mayor John Cook proposed the name Oak Ridge for the new cemetery.
In 1858 the city appointed a sexton to serve as caretaker to the cemetery, and it was at this time that the cemetery began to keep records of interments. Another ordinance passed in 1866 prohibited additions to Hutchinson’s Cemetery and allowed owners of lots there to exchange them for equally sized lots in Oak Ridge Cemetery instead. Between 1865 and 1879, 652 bodies were moved from the City Cemetery and Hutchinson’s Cemetery to be reinterred in Oak Ridge Cemetery.
The city of Springfield dedicated the cemetery on May 24, 1860, and schools and businesses even closed for the afternoon. Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln are believed to have attended the event.
Burials began at Oak Ridge well before the dedication — according to cemetery records, the first person buried there, in 1858, was Eliza Helmle, the 7-month-old daughter of Carl and Marie Flesche Helmle."
Since 1865, the cemetery has grown to be the largest Municipal cemetery in the state of Illinois, encompassing approximately 180 acres of beautiful rolling prairie land, thousands of hardwoods and conifers, and over 75,000 interments.
Oak Ridge is the burial home of many settlers of Springfield and Sangamon County and state and local officials. There are over 50 sections and approximately 75,000 burials.
Oak Ridge Cemetery is the second most visited cemetery in the county, only after Washington, D.C.’s Arlington National Cemetery. Nearly one million visitors come to the cemetery each year to pay their respects. These high visitation number are largely due to Abraham Lincoln’s tomb.
Construction on the Lincoln Tomb began in 1868, and it was dedicated in 1874 with President Grant in attendance at the ceremony. Because of major design and construction flaws, the Tomb was largely rebuilt in 1900 through 1901 and once more in 1930 through 1931. There were also security concerns after thieves attempted to steal President Lincoln’s body in 1876, so his remains were moved to a level below the floor of the burial chamber after the first renovation was completed.
Abraham Lincoln isn’t the only notable figure at Oak Ridge Cemetery; many of Lincoln’s contemporaries are interred there as well. Oak Ridge holds over eighty dignitaries, including former governors and legislators.
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