From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stanley family plot in Woodland Cemetery.

Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum (200 acres), located at 118 Woodland Avenue, Dayton, Ohio, is one of the oldest "garden" cemeteries in the United States.

Woodland was founded in 1841 by John Whitten Van Cleve (July, 1801–6 September 1858), the first male child born in Dayton. He was the son of Benjamin Van Cleve and Mary Whitten Van Cleve. The cemetery began with 40 acres southeast of Dayton and has been enlarged to its present size of 200 acres. Over 3,000 trees and 165 specimens of native Midwestern trees and woody plants grace the rolling hills. Many of the trees are more than a century old and 9 have been designated "Ohio Champions." The highest point in Dayton is within the cemetery, and during the Great Dayton Flood of 1913, it became a place of refuge.

The Romanesque gateway, chapel and office, completed in 1889, are on the National Register of Historic Places. The buildings were constructed of the stone from the original cemetery wall. The chapel has one of the finest original Tiffany windows in the country. A mausoleum, with a rock and bronze exterior, features twenty-two varieties of imported marble and twelve large stained glass windows inspired by famous literary works. It was added in 1970.

The monuments, ranging from rugged boulders to Greek statues and temples, memorialize the lives of people who helped shape the nation and the city. Woodland is the final resting place for more than 100,000 people, including:

• John H. Balsley, inventor of the folding step-ladder
• Loren M. Berry, inventor of the Yellow Pages
• Erma Bombeck, humorist and writer
• Mrs. Leslie Carter, actress
• William Charch, DuPont Chemist, inventor of moistureproof cellophane for food packaging.
• Daniel C. Cooper, surveyor and Proprietor of Dayton
• James M. Cox, newspaper publisher, Governor of Ohio and Presidential candidate
• Edward A. Deeds, engineer, inventor and industrialist
• Paul Laurence Dunbar, poet
• John Glossinger, popularized the Oh Henry! candy bar
• George P. Huffman, industrialist (Huffy Bicycles)
• Andrew Iddings, inventor of the stereoptic (3-D) camera.
• Charles F. Kettering, inventor
• L. L. Langstroth, father of American beekeeping
• George Mead, industrialist (Mead Paper)
• John H. Patterson, industrialist (NCR)
• James Ritty, inventor of the cash register
• James Findlay Schenck, Rear Admiral, United States Navy
• Robert Cumming Schenck, Civil War General, member of US Congress and Ambassador to Brazil and United Kingdom
• Levi and Matilda Stanley "King and Queen" of the Gypsies
• John W. Stoddard built the Stoddard-Dayton automobile
• Clement Vallandigham Congressman and Copperhead leader
• Wilbur and Orville Wright, inventors of the first practical flying machine
• David Ziegler first mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio

• List of cemeteries in the United States
• List of other famous cemeteries
• List of botanical gardens in the United States

• Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum
• Woodland Cemetery Association, 1875