Forest Hill Cemetery

This 1908 post card shows a section of the south central part of Forest Hill Cemetery in the days when the hearse and other funeral vehicles were horse-drawn. The cemetery, at Sixty-ninth street and Troost avenue, was incorporated in 1888. The building in the right background was the receiving vault used to keep bodies when the weather was inclement or the ground frozen. The Phoenix granite building contained 80 catacombs. There were no mechanical devices for digging graves at the time, and the necessary labor was difficult in zero weather. The building stands today, but it is used for miscellaneous storage. The small lake has been filled with earth and landscaped. Some Kansas Citians can remember driving to the cemetery on Decoration day, with their carriages filled with containers of flowers and water. Others remember riding on the Marlborough street car line which ran through the grounds on Woodland avenue. The right of way for the line was given to the street car company for use as long as it maintained a carline. Today it has reverted to Forest Hill and is part of the cemetery. A shelter house was located at the entrance on Woodland and a farm pasture bordering the cemetery was filled with daisies. For 25 cents the farmer permitted persons to pick all they could carry. The flowers then were carried into the cemetery and used to decorate graves. The cemetery has been famous through the years for its wealth of and variety of trees. Originally there were 104 species of American, European and Oriental trees. George Kessler was the landscape architect. The plantings were started by George Law and Sid J. Hare. Kansas City Times, May 30, 1970.