Forest Lawn Memorial Park

Cincinnati cemetery designer Joseph Earnshaw surveyed and platted the grounds on his lawn plan, which worked with the land as found: groves of trees and shrubs on the rolling hills, with wandering roads between them. The crowds came with the streetcar. From May 1906 a line ran through the gates so riders stepped off inside the fence, and that Memorial Day the cemetery was crowded early. John McDonald's granite chapel, dedicated in May 1915, held a crematory in its basement, which North Omaha historian Adam Fletcher Sasse names as the site of Nebraska's first cremation.

What the plaque says

Forest Lawn Memorial Park Forest Lawn Memorial Park was established May 13, 1885, under the guidance of the Forest Lawn Cemetery Association. Its membership included pioneer Omaha business and professional men. A founding trustee, John H. Brackin, offered the original area of 100 acres of young native forest. His was the first interment November 12, 1886. The cemetery was developed on the park plan. Thanks to the vision of its founders and the sensitive care of those who have followed, the present area of more than 320 acres of rolling hills is indeed an expanse of forest and lawn. It has been called one of the nation's most beautiful cemeteries. Historic Omaha family names dot the peaceful hills, men and women who helped build the community. Here rest veterans who served their country in many wars or conflicts including the Civil, Spanish American, and World Wars, and in Korea and Vietnam. Forest Lawn has an aura that both consoles and inspires. Nothing shall, as the centuries roll on, disturb that sleep, nor mar the beauty of this spot which death has hallowed, and which love preserves with tender memories. Board of Trustees, May 13, 1985 Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Winter Quarters and the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery — 1.4 mi
  The Latter-day Saint camp of 1846 to 1848 on Omaha land in what is now Florence, where hundreds died the first winter, and the cemetery and trail center beside it.
• Malcolm X Birthsite — 3.1 mi
  The North Omaha lot where Malcolm Little was born in May 1925 and his family was driven out by the Klan, saved by Rowena Moore and now planned as a cultural center.
• Joslyn Art Museum — 5.4 mi
  Omaha's free art museum, a 1931 Art Deco memorial with two modern pavilions, and the keeper of Karl Bodmer's watercolors from the upper Missouri in 1833 and 1834.
• The Durham Museum (Omaha Union Station) — 6.4 mi
  Omaha's 1931 Union Station, Gilbert Stanley Underwood's Art Deco depot for the Union Pacific, closed to trains in 1971 and kept as a city museum with its waiting room intact.

More markers nearby

• Potter's Field — steps away
• Winter Quarters — 1.7 mi
• The Bank of Florence — 1.7 mi
• Crook House — 2.2 mi