FAIRVIEW – A BRIEF HISTORY OF NIAGARA FALLS’ “CITY OF THE DEAD.”

[Welland Tribune, 22 February 1889]

“Where the wicked cease from troubling,  And the weary are at rest.”

“There is no place like home,” says the old song; so we cannot do better than write of home-but another home than that spoken of in the sweet old refrain; The Home of the Dead. And the friends who have crossed Life’s margin for the Better Land from where the mighty “Onyakara” chants its endless song, have truly a beautiful home in which to lie at rest until that last great day when the grave gives up its dead. Fairview cemetery stands upon the highest elevation within the town of Niagara Falls, and commands a beautiful view of the surrounding country. The ground is twenty acres in extent, tastefully laid out and neatly fenced. Drives and footpaths intersect the front portion of the cemetery, while the rear portion is a meadow, with young shade trees planted all around its margin. The entrance faces the west end of Chestnut street, and the keeper’s residence stands within the gateway to the left. The northeast corner of the ground is reserved for deceased members of the Catholic church, and the southeast corner is used for the interment of deceased members of all other denominations. The raised mounds common to most burial grounds are absent from Fairview, each grave being level with the adjacent ground and the lots marked by neat square stones standing upright at each corner. The monuments raised by loving hands over the resting places of the dead are varied, numerous, and many of them beautiful. Pillars and obelisks seem to preponderate in the general portion of the grounds, while crosses are found for the most part in the Catholic reservation. The cemetery is kept in very neat order and reflects the greatest credit on our town officers and the different committees appointed by various councils to oversee and maintain it. The soil is light and dry-a very great advantage. The cemetery has been some six years in existence, the first of May, 1882, being the day on which the Mayor and Messrs. J. Coulson and W.W. Woodruff were appointed a committee to find a suitable site and cost of same. On the fifteenth of the same month the committee reported that Mr. Shugg offered the town twenty acres of land (the present site) at a cost of $5000; and recommended, on the fifth of June, that a by-law be prepared for the purpose of borrowing $8,000 for the purchase and laying out of the ground. On June 22^nd, 1882, the by-law was submitted to the ratepayers and carried by thirty-six majority; and was passed in council on August 7^th following. On October 23d the council appointed the Mayor, John Coulson, W.W. Woodruff, P. Flynn, J.N. Burns and M.M. Buckley, a committee authorized to have the cemetery surveyed, fenced, graded and generally laid out in walks and drives. A new committee was appointed in 1883, consisting of Messrs. M. M. Buckley (chairman), Peter Flynn, A. Carnochan, J. Jackson and H. Biggar. Under the direction of these gentlemen, the grounds were laid out, graded and planted with trees and shrubs. The first interment took place on July 20^th, 1883, when the remains of Mr. Thos, Whittaker were laid at rest. The committee for 1884 consisted of Messrs. M.M. Buckley (chairman), W.W. Woodruff, O. Nelles, L. Davis and E. Redpath. About seven hundred trees and shrubs were planted that spring, and the cemetery was very much improved. Messrs. A. Gray (chairman) W.W. Woodruff, J.R. Lundy, W. McFaul and O. Nelles formed the cemetery committee for 1885. In 1886 a caretaker’s house was built, and other improvements made, by a committee consisting of Messrs. M.M. Buckley (chairman), G.H. Howard, and John Bender. 1887 found the same gentlemen at work, with the exception that Mr. L. Davis took Mr. John Bender’s place. In the fall of the year the rear portion of the cemetery was laid out. Last year the improvements were continued by an entirely new committee, consisting of Messrs. W. McFaul, (chairman), G.E. Buckley and J.P. Brown. The total number from 20^th July, 1883 to 31^st Dec., 1888 was 290, consisting of 207 Protestants, 68 of whom were removed from other burial grounds, and 83 Catholics, 14 of whom were removed from other cemeteries and reinterred at Fairview. Such, in brief, is the history of one of the prettiest and most interesting spots in the town of Niagara Falls. Too often have we followed all that was mortal of some dear friend to its gates, and too often have we turned sadly homeward from laying true hearts at rest therein forever. But our feeling were not always sad and bitter, for there was balm in the thought that those we loved were resting, after the strife, where mother nature smiled her sweetest, in the peaceful and beautiful enclosure of Fairview. G.O.C.