A PLACE OF PEACE. Eau Claire's oldest cemetery, Forest Hill Cemetery (pictured), predates the city of Eau Claire – but not the community. While the Wisconsin State Legislature approved the charter for the City of Eau Claire in 1872, cemetery staffer Mary Marquardt said "the oldest I've found is 1824 then nothing on  record until 1829, then many going forward from about 1850."

As Eau Claire's oldest cemetery and resting place for over 15,000 former residents, Forest Hill Cemetery is likely to be formally considered for the National Register of Historic Places in the coming months. 

The City of Eau Claire and its Landmarks Commission have explored the possibility to submit Forest Hill Cemetery for National Register consideration since about 2023, Assistant City Planner Peter Baumgartner said.

Landmarking the cemetery in some capacity was initially added to the City work plan in 2022, he said. In October 2023, two commissioners submitted a nomination questionnaire to the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) for review.

Some of the 12,000-plus burial sites at Forest Hill Cemetery are marked simply by initials, as pictured.

Forest Hill Cemetery is also home to eight private family mausoleums and two private family hillside crypts.

Since then, the nomination application process has continued, with the most recent Landmarks Commission meeting in June including a presentation by Gail Klein, an architectural historian, who shared her work on the 50-plus page application.

That application (which can be viewed online, beginning on p. 56) includes incredibly in-depth reports on Forest Hill Cemetery’s historical importance, including its architectural classifications – “the best representative of the Rural Cemetery Movement in the city of Eau Claire” – among other aspects.

Klein, who works at the Archaeological Research Laboratory Center at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said she expects the SHPO and state review board to approve Forest Hill Cemetery’s nomination.

After that, it would be passed onto the National Park Service for final consideration and potential approval.

About Forest Hill Cemetery

Forest Hill Cemetery (822 Emery St., Eau Claire) sprawls some 33 acres and is the final resting place of thousands; many recognizable names of those who have left their lasting mark on the community.

Forest Hill Cemetery's architectural classification is classical revival and late gothic revival. Burial markers span an array of materials, sizes and styles, like this obelisk-style marker. (David Drummond's marker is pictured in the background.)

Among those, as detailed in Rest in Nature: A Guide to Eau Claire's Forest Hill Cemetery by Robert J. Gough and Gregory Kocken, are David Drummond, a very successful businessman and namesake of the Drummond Business Block and David Drummond House; Herman Schlegelmilch, whose home at 517 S. Farwell St. is on the National Register of Historic Places and maintained by the Chippewa Valley Museum; Hiram P. Graham, the city’s first mayor and co-founder of what became the Phoenix Manufacturing Company; Raymond B. Gillette, founder of the Gillette Safety Tire Company (later rebranded as Uniroyal); and Chee Yet “Jimmy” Woo, entrepreneur behind the former Woo’s Pagoda at 1700 South Hastings Way, whose marker is one of very few, in Forest Hill, that is in Chinese.

Mary Marquardt, a City cemetery staffer, noted the Jane E. Putnam Memorial Chapel – which was built in Forest Hill Cemetery 1908 – is already on the National Register. Forest Hill itself, which currently has 15,970 burials, she said, has just under 2,000 available lots left. 

If Forest Hill Cemetery is successful in its application and is placed on the National Register of Historic Places – joining roughly 60 other Eau Claire sites listed on it – the City would have access to Federal and State grants to help preserve it.

“It would also provide opportunities for the state to review future projects to ensure that the historic aspect of the cemetery is maintained,” Baumgartner said. “There might also be a slight uptick in people visiting Eau Claire to see a property on the National Register.”

Of course, longtime locals and families are likely familiar with Forest Hill Cemetery beyond its historic and resting place values; its property includes the “Seven Bumps Hill,” a popular public rec area for winter activities.

Designed by Charles H. Ramsdell, the cemetery was intended to be part of neighborhood life.

The Jane E. Putnam Memorial Chapel, pictured, has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2000. It was created in 1908 in honor of Jane, by her husband and lumber baron Henry Putnam. Pending the State Historic Preservation Office's approval – which Historian Gail Klein said she expects will occur – Forest Hill Cemetery in its entirety will be considered for the National Register by the National Park Service.

The public can view the Forest Hill Cemetery's full consideration application online via the Landmarks Commission • Learn more about the cemetery online through the City of Eau Claire Parks, Forestry and Cemetery Division