Ottumwa Cemetery

Ottumwa Cemetery's original 10 acre plot and the four key structures that create its dramatic entrance are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The receiving vault, wrought iron fence, Edgerly Gateway, and office/chapel are set in a magnificent arboretum housing trees and shrubs planted throughout the city's history.

The Ottumwa Cemetery was established in 1857 after outgrowing the town's original cemetery which was located nearer to downtown. The cemetery's current boundaries are North Court Street on the west side, Vanness Avenue on the north, Jefferson Street on the east, and Park Avenue on the south. Ottumwa Cemetery's original 10 acres was laid out in grids of lots on the hillsides with meandering roads.

In 1887, an ornate receiving vault was constructed. The vault is built of deep red brick and terra cotta panels in a High Victorian Gothic design. Shortly after the vault was completed, a romantic design wrought iron fence was built along Court Street.

The keystone to the cemetery's entrance is Edgerly Gateway. The Bedford limestone arch was constructed at the southwest corner of the cemetery in 1904. It is in the classical form of a Roman triumphal arch.

The Gothic-style office/chapel pictured below has arched windows and a crenelated roofline. It was completed in 1906 and dedicated to the Union soldiers and sailors of the Civil War. The picture of the Cemetery staff below was taken in 1929.

This life-size statue of a greyhound dog, visible from North Court Street, was placed on the lot of Thomas J. Nash at about the turn of the century. Legend has it that the dog belonged to Nash's four-year old grandson, George Jr. When George died in 1904, so the story goes, the grief stricken pet visited his young master's grave every day. Then one day he was found dead of a broken heart on the burial spot. The boy's grandfather had the statue cast as a monument to the devoted dog.