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Oak Hill Cemetery

History

From: Milwaukee Journal July 26, 1931 Old Cemetery is Picturesque

Quaint Sculpture Is Seen on Site Recently Center of Dispute

For many years, probably no American flags and no flowers have been placed at the head of the grave of Dr. L.C. Halsted, surgeon in the 7th Wisconsin Volunteer battery, Civil War, who was buried in Oak Hill cemetery in December, 1902. Dr. Halstead's grave is one of many at the old cemetery on Capitol drive, west of Highway 100, the markers of which are covered with tall grass or knocked to the ground. It is one of many graves half hidden by overhanging trees and bushes.

Oak Hill cemetery, one of the picturesque spots of Milwaukee county, recently was the center of controversy over the building of a two-lane superhighway on Capitol drive. The county planned to cut through the cemetery, but, because of pleas of relatives of persons buried there, it was decided the road should be widened without molesting the old grounds.

STONES 90 YEAR OLD Many of the stones in the cemetery are more than 90 years old. One headstone, so weatherbeaten that the name can hardly be read, is that of Edwin D. Pierce, who died Apr. 4, 1839(sic), at the age of 17. Other stones mark the graves of persons who died only a few years ago.

Quaint sculptural designs mark many of the cemetery monuments. Several stones are fashioned with pairs of clasped hands reaching upward, or with the index finger of a hand pointing upward. Other markers indicate in verse that the person buried in the cemetery "has passed heavenward." And about a few graves are small glass inclosed boxes which hold faded and withered wreaths in their original form.

LIVED NEXT TO CEMETERY One of the persons buried in Oak cemetery once lived in the old farm immediately to the west. The home was torn down and the farm deserted many years ago. The cemetery is on the crest of a hill directly opposite the northwest corner of James Currie park. A steep incline on the driveway into the grounds leads through a gate which long ago fell from its hinges. Along the borders of the cemetery a ravine extends to the north. A row of stakes running east and west through the cemetery several feet north of the entrance shows the point to which the county had at first plan to cut into the grounds in widening Capitol drive.

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