Elmwood Cemetery

Elmwood Cemetery and Mausoleum is a 412 acre cemetery established in the 1880s (as Elm Leaf Cemetery) in the West End neighborhood of Birmingham by a group of Fraternal organizations.

It was taken over by the Jemison Real Estate in the early 1900s and renamed in 1906. The more spacious and modern Elmwood gradually eclipsed Oak Hill Cemetery as the most prominent burial place in the city. As of 2002, it was ranked the 12th largest cemetery in the nation.

The cemetery is roughly bounded by Martin Luther King Jr Drive, Dennison Avenue Southwest, 14th Place Southwest, and railroad tracks. The main entrance is directly across from 6th Avenue Southwest.

The first recorded burial was of Annie Cleveland, an eight month old girl, in October 28, 1900. The Lackey family constructed a funeral chapel for Johns-Ridouts Mortuary adjoining the cemetery at 800 Dennison Avenue Southwest in 1962.

Originally, the cemetery was whites-only. It was was integrated in 1970 after Vietnam War veteran Bill Terry Jr's family won a federal lawsuit barring the owners from discriminating based on race. There are currently over 126,000 individuals interred at Elmwood.

Notable burials

• Henry Aizenman, (1931–2008), Holocaust survivor
• Truman H. Aldrich (1848–1932), U.S. Representative 1896–1897
• William Wirt Allen (1835–1894), Confederate Major General
• Mary Anderson (1866–1953), inventor of the windshield wiper
• Henry Badham Jr (1892-1978), aviator, Air National Guard Brigadier General
• William Badham (1895-1991), aviator, Air Force Brigadier General
• Arlie Barber (1873-1958), seed dealer and Birmingham City Commissioner
• Donald Beatty (1900–1980), aviator, explorer and inventor
• Mike Boackle (1912-1986), restaurateur and club owner
• Charley Boswell (1916–1995), Blind golfer and insurance executive
• Sydney J. Bowie (1865–1928), U.S. Representative 1901–1907
• Bear Bryant (1913–1983), University of Alabama football coach
• Charles Carraway (1878-1963), physician
• Ben Chapman (1908–1993), baseball player
• James Saxon Childers (1899–1965), novelist
• Louis V. Clark (1862-1934), insurance executive, developer and Alabama National Guard officer
• B. B. Comer (1848–1927), Governor of Alabama 1907–1911, U.S. Senator 1920
• James Coyle (1873–1921), Catholic priest
• George Crawford (1869-1936), President of the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company 1907-30
• Russell Cunningham (1855–921), Governor of Alabama 1904–1905
• Piper Davis (1917–1989), baseball player
• William Henry Denson (1846–1906), U.S. Representative 1893–1895
• Thomas Dill (1825-1901), professor and dean at Howard College
• Joe Domnanovich (1919–2009), football player
• James Dovel (1868-1948), engineer
• Red Erwin (1921–2002), Medal of Honor recipient
• Sam Fiorella (1925-1991), bookmaker
• John Forney (1927–1997), University of Alabama play-by-play radio announcer
• William Graves (1833-1931), attorney and real estate developer
• William Grubb (1862-1935), U.S. District Court judge
• Sam Hairston (1920–1997), baseball player
• James Hall (1855-1936), Presbyterian minister and educator
• Art Hanes (1916–1997), Mayor of Birmingham 1961–1963
• Evelyn Starks Hardy (1923-2015), gospel star and music teacher
• Lum Harris (1915–1996), baseball manager
• John Hodnett (1927-2017), Mayor of Hoover
• Fred Horn (1925-2018), Alabama state senator 1975-1995
• George Huddleston Sr (1869–1960), U.S. Representative 1915–1937
• George Huddleston Jr (1920–1971), U.S. Representative 1955–1965
• J. F. B. Jackson (1830-1912), business investor
• Patti Ruffner Jacobs (1875–1935), social reformer
• Caroline Johnson (1868–1957), wife of Crawford Johnson, civic activist
• Joseph Johnston (1843–1913), Governor of Alabama 1896-1900, U. S. Senator 1907–1913
• A. C. Keily (1908–2004), photographer
• Eddie Kendricks (1939–1992), singer, co-founder of The Temptations
• Larry Langford (1948-2019), Mayor of Fairfield and Birmingham, President of Jefferson County Commission
• Randy Marsh (1948-2005), Alabama School of Fine Arts faculty and Birmingham Festival Theatre cofounder
• Dee Miles (1909–1976), baseball player
• John P. Newsome (1893–1961), U.S. Representative 1943–1945
• Luther Patrick (1894–1957), U.S. Representative 1937–1943
• Bem Price (1883–1936), architect
• Jim Pyburn (1932–2011), baseball player and football coach
• Erskine Ramsay (1864–1953), mining engineer, inventor and philanthropist
• Rufus Rhodes (1856–1910), founder of the Birmingham News
• Bo Russell (1916–1997), baseball player
• Ed Salem (1928–2001), football player and restaurateur
• John Scates (1906-1980), Mayor of Vestavia Hills
• Fred Sington (1910–1998), football player
• Sidney Smyer (1897-1985), president of the Birmingham Realty Company
• Jesse Stallings (1856–1928), U.S. Representative 1893–1901
• Sun Ra (1914–1993), jazz musician
• Bill Terry Jr (1949–1969), Vietnam veteran
• Herbert Tutwiler (1882-1945), industrialist, executive
• Oscar Underwood (1862–1929), U.S. Senator 1915–1927
• Leon Vlahos (1935-2008), confectioner
• Gene Walker (1893–1924), motorcycle racer
• Newman Waters, Sr (1897-1973), theater executive and real estate developer
• James Weatherly (1856–1930) Birmingham City Commissioner 1911–1917
• Frank White (1847–1922), U.S. Senator 1914–1915
• Abraham Woods Jr (1928–2008), minister, Civil Rights activist
• Joseph Woodward (1843-1917), president of Woodward Iron Company
• John Wright (1927-2015), communications director, actor and social activist
• Clarence Yaryan (1892–1964), baseball player

External links

• Elmwood Cemetery at Find-A-Grave
• Elmwood Cemetery at the Political Graveyard

References

• "Elmwood Cemetery (Birmingham, Alabama)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 18 Apr 2009, 16:30 UTC. 25 May 2009 [1].
• Stock, Erin (May 24, 2009) "Soldier whose death led to Elmwood Cemetery integration is honored." The Birmingham News
• "Elmwood Cemetery, Birmingham" in The Heritage of Jefferson County, Alabama (2002) Clanton: Heritage Publishing Consultants. ISBN 1891647547, p. 138