Glendale

In 1847, New York State passed a law called the State Rural Cemeteries Act that sought to prevent the construction of any more cemeteries in Manhattan. A deadline was set for 1850, after which no further cemetery development would be allowed, but this created a problem because of the rapid population growth that New York City was experiencing. Developers in the cemetery industry began to look outside of the Manhattan limits for available land, and while parts of Westchester and Rockland Counties were also available, they seem to have preferred areas to the east, which included Brooklyn and Queens.

At that time, Glendale was in the process of evolving from a farming community to more of a residential and industrial area, but it still had large amounts of undeveloped land. As cemetery operators began to buy up much of this land, the town soon became almost surrounded by more than 10 cemeteries, occupying land that was adjacent to Metropolitan Avenue on the north and on both sides of Cypress Hills Street to the south. Forest Park and the Interboro Parkway would later be built in that general area as well.

Today, any drive through Glendale passes through areas surrounded by well-kept cemetery grounds, which in some ways contribute to the rural atmosphere of the town. Families of all faiths have the opportunity to choose the nonsectarian Cypress Hills Cemetery for burial of their loved ones or one of the many others catering to people of the Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, and other Christian faiths. Among the notable people whose final resting places are in Glendale are actress Mae West, baseball great Jackie Robinson, and legendary magician Harry Houdini.

This 1939 photograph shows the beautiful landscaping throughout the Cypress Hills Cemetery and the rostrum built near the section dedicated to veterans’ gravesites. Much of this work was done as part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

The main roadway through the veterans section of Cypress Hills Cemetery was also built as a WPA project, as seen in this additional 1939 photograph. In later years, as nearby Long Island developed and less space was available in Glendale, additional land for veterans’ burials was set aside in the towns of Melville and Calverton. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

The Cypress Hills Cemetery also honors the war dead from previous conflicts where American service personnel gave their lives. This eagle-topped monument, seen here in a 1941 photograph, honors the veterans of the War of 1812. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

A long-standing tradition in many areas is to place flags on the graves of veterans on Memorial Day and the other holidays honoring military personnel. This 1953 photograph features a group of Cub Scouts performing that service at Cypress Hills Cemetery. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

This second view of Scouts honoring veterans on Memorial Day is from 1945 and gives some indication of just how large the veterans section is at Cypress Hills Cemetery. The cemetery derived its name from the large stands of cypress trees that line its roadways. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

Baseball great Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color barrier, passed away in 1972 and is buried in the Cypress Hills Cemetery in Glendale. The nearby Interboro Parkway was renamed in his honor in 1997 and is now the Jackie Robinson Parkway. (Courtesy of the author.)

Glendale’s zoning restrictions were changed just before this map was prepared by the New York City Planning Commission in 2000. It presents a vivid picture of how the cemeteries have prevented more industrial development of Glendale and why the term “cemetery belt” was created to describe the area surrounding the community. Metropolitan Avenue, bracketed by the Lutheran Cemetery, is on the top of the map, and Myrtle Avenue runs from left to right in the bottom half, showing no fewer than nine different cemeteries. The western border of Forest Park is seen in the lower right, with the renamed Jackie Robinson Parkway running right through Cypress Hills Cemetery. There was some controversy when the parkway was first built because its construction required the disinterment and reburial of hundreds of bodies that were buried along the proposed parkway route. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

One of the premier funeral establishments in the Glendale area is the George Werst Funeral Home, seen here in 1935. The building dates back to the mid-1800s, when it was part of a plantation belonging to the Liggett & Myers Tobacco family. In the early 20th century, it was the home of a member of the Holzhauser family, and then, in 1910, it was purchased by William Hafner for his residence. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

In the early years, the building was modified several times, and by the time of the Roaring Twenties, it was used as a clubhouse for the Glendale Squire Club. It was purchased in 1935 by George Werst and renovated again to make it more suitable as a funeral establishment. Most of the building remains unchanged from the time when this photograph was taken in 1976. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

This 1960 advertisement from the Ridgewood Times indicates that the entrance has been enlarged and shows how it differs from the 1935 photograph. Note that the old telephone exchange from the days when they began with a word is “Vandyke,” which was used to pay tribute to the Dutch origins of the area that became Glendale. (Courtesy of GRHS.)

The grave monument with the bust in the top center of this photograph marks the burial place of Erik Weisz, better known as Harry Houdini. He was a master illusionist and escape artist who died in 1926 and is buried in the Machpelah Jewish Cemetery. His last promise to his wife was that he would achieve the ultimate escape and return to her from the dead. (Courtesy of the author.)

The steamship General Slocum left a pier in lower New York on June 15, 1904, loaded with members of various German heritage societies from Glendale and other New York City communities. They were bound for the North Shore of Long Island for a picnic outing, but the ship caught fire while still in the East River. Flames swept through the ship before the captain ran it aground near the Bronx shore, and 1,020 passengers lost their lives in the catastrophe. This monument near the Glendale entrance to the All Faiths Cemetery was erected in remembrance of those who were lost that day and features a graphic engraving of the ship in flames. (Both, courtesy of the author.)