Oct. 16, 2009

As Lansing's sesquicentennial year draws to a close, Michigan Historical Commissioner Tom Truscott will join Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and other city officials to dedicate a Michigan Historical Marker honoring Mount Hope Cemetery on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 10 a.m. The cemetery is located at 1709 E. Mount Hope Ave. in Lansing.

"Mount Hope is the final resting place of many Lansing pioneers and generations of leading businesspeople and civic and cultural leaders. It embodies the rural cemetery aesthetic of the 19th century, with artfully winding roads coursing through the rolling landscape, and contains Lansing's Civil War memorial and fine examples of funerary art from the 19th and 20th centuries," said Robert Christensen of the State Historic Preservation Office, Michigan State Housing Development Authority. "It's a quiet, beautiful place, worthy of this marker and of joining other notable Michigan cemeteries in the National Register of Historic Places - an honor we hope happens soon."

"When you walk through Mount Hope Cemetery, you are reminded of the people who shaped Michigan and its capital city in its early days - the industrialists, the philanthropists, the government leaders," said Mayor Bernero. "But we should not forget the veterans, and regular citizens like Lucy Karney, a once-enslaved African American, who lived in our community and died here at age 117. In addition, the children from the boys training school, whose remains were relocated here, now rest in a place of honor at Mount Hope."

Mount Hope Cemetery opened as Lansing's new city cemetery in 1874 on what was formerly the John Miller Farm. Between 1874 and 1881 the city vacated the Lansing City Cemetery, located on the site of what would become Oak Park, and moved roughly 1,000 graves to Mount Hope. The cemetery has been subdivided into sections devoted to Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Latvian interments.

Well-known Lansing figures buried in Mount Hope include presidents of Michigan State University, Michigan Supreme Court justices, industrialists Ransom Eli Olds and William K. Prudden, pioneer botanist Dr. William J. Beal, two-time Medal of Honor winner and surgeon Dr. George Ranney, and philanthropists Edward W. Sparrow and J. H. Moore. One of the most colorful individuals interred there is Luther Baker, who led the effort to capture John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.

Jesse Lasorda, a local historian who - with the assistance of Cemetery Secretary Julie Mannino - compiled extensive research materials to document the history of the cemetery, made the application for the marker. LaSorda felt it was important to honor Mount Hope Cemetery with a state marker during the capital city's 150th birthday celebration.

Since the Michigan Historical Marker program began in 1955, more than 1,500 official historical markers have been erected. Traveling Through Time: A Guide to Michigan's Historical Markers contains the text and location of state markers. It is available anywhere books are sold or by calling (517) 373-1663.

Michigan Historical Markers are approved by the Michigan Historical Commission, part of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, accessible use and enjoyment of the State's natural resources for current and future generations.