Elmwood Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)
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Elmwood Cemetery, Office, and Entrance Bridge
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| Location | Memphis, TN |
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| Coordinates | 35°7′19″N 90°1′45.52″W / 35.12194°N 90.0293111°WCoordinates: 35°7′19″N 90°1′45.52″W / 35.12194°N 90.0293111°W |
| NRHP Reference # | 78002632; 02000233 |
| Added to NRHP | May 22, 1978; March 20, 2002 |
Historic Elmwood Cemetery is the oldest active cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee. It was established in 1852 as one of the first rural garden cemeteries in the South.
A funeral scene in Paramount's 1993 legal thriller The Firm was filmed here.
Elmwood Cemetery was established as part of the Rural Cemetery Movement of the early-to-mid-19th century. A classic example of a garden cemetery, it is notable for its park-like setting, sweeping vistas, shady knolls, large stands of ancient trees, and magnificent monuments.
On 28 August 1852, fifty prominent Memphis citizens each contributed $500 for stock certificates in order to purchase 40 acres (160,000 m2) of land for the cemetery; they envisioned that this land would be a park for the living as well as the dead, where family outings, picnics, and social gatherings could occur. It was meant to be a place where beautiful gardens were tended and individual monuments celebrated both life and death. The name for the place was chosen in a drawing: several proposed names were put into a hat and Elmwood was drawn by animators, with the stockholders stating they were "well pleased" with the selection. Ironically, they had to hurriedly order some elms trees from New York to place among the native oaks of Memphis, since there were no elms in the area. After the American Civil War, the property was expanded to 80 acres (320,000 m2) for another $40,000. In the 1870s, the original corporation controlling the cemetery was dissolved and it became one of the oldest nonprofits in Tennessee.
The first burial occurred on 15 July 1853, when Mrs. R.B. Berry was laid to rest. Since then, more than 75,000 people have been buried at Elmwood Cemetery, with space still remaining for about 15,000 more. The cemetery's gardens include the Carlisle S. Page Arboretum. Beneath the cemetery's ancient elms, oaks, and magnolias lie some of the city's most honored and revered dead; flowering dogwoods and crepe myrtles are interspersed with Memphis history, those famous and infamous, loved and feared. There are veterans of every American war, from the American Revolution up to the Vietnam War, and there are people from every walk of life and culture, including Mayors of Memphis, Governors of Tennessee, U.S. Senators, madams, blues singers, suffragists, martyrs, generals, civil rights leaders, holy men and women, outlaws and millionaires and ordinary citizens.
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