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Agenda 2026-06-15 MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2026.PDF Meeting Materials LANDMARKS COMMISSION AGENDA PACKET 6-15-26.PDF 1. Documents: 2. Documents: 203 S. Farwell Street, P.O. Box 5148, Eau Claire, WI 54702-5148 Phone: 715-839-4914 Landmarks Commission Agenda June 15, 2026 PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that there will be a meeting of the City of Eau Claire Landmarks Commission on Monday, June 15, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. in the North Conference Room at City Hall, 203 S. Farwell Street, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The following items will be on the agenda: 1. Call to order 2. Roll Call 3. Open public comment period for items that do not appear on this agenda. 4. Approval of 5/18/26 Minutes 5. Certificate of Appropriateness – 620 3rd Avenue 6. Certificate of Appropriateness – 244 Lake Street 7. Certificate of Appropriateness – 1302 State Street 8. Presentation on Forest Hill Cemetery National Register Nomination 9. Future agenda items and announcements 10. Adjournment In order to accommodate the participation of individuals with special needs at this meeting, the City will provide the services of a sign language interpreter or make other reasonable accommodations on request. To make such a request, please notify the City at 715-839-4902 at least two days prior to the meeting. _________________ Peter Baumgartner Associate Planner c: News Media 203 S. Farwell Street, P.O. Box 5148, Eau Claire, WI 54702-5148 Phone: 715-839-4914 Landmarks Commission Agenda June 15, 2026 PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that there will be a meeting of the City of Eau Claire Landmarks Commission on Monday, June 15, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. in the North Conference Room at City Hall, 203 S. Farwell Street, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The following items will be on the agenda: 1. Call to order 2. Roll Call 3. Open public comment period for items that do not appear on this agenda. 4. Approval of 5/18/26 Minutes 5. Certificate of Appropriateness – 620 3rd Avenue 6. Certificate of Appropriateness – 244 Lake Street 7. Certificate of Appropriateness – 1302 State Street 8. Presentation on Forest Hill Cemetery National Register Nomination 9. Future agenda items and announcements 10. Adjournment In order to accommodate the participation of individuals with special needs at this meeting, the City will provide the services of a sign language interpreter or make other reasonable accommodations on request. To make such a request, please notify the City at 715-839-4902 at least two days prior to the meeting. _________________ Peter Baumgartner Associate Planner c: News Media Landmarks Commission ________________________________________________ Date: June 11, 2026 To: Commission Members From: Peter Baumgartner, Associate Planner Re: June 15th Meeting Items Reference Item 4. Approval of 5/18/26 Minutes Please review and approve the draft minutes. See Attachment 1. 5. Certificate of Appropriateness (CoA) 620 3rd Avenue A request by Ed & Joe Garlick, owners, to modify/block-in three (3) existing basement windows on the interior side of the structure to facilitate the mounting of a bank of eight (8) electrical meters on the exterior of the structure, as required by Xcel Energy. The Landmarks Commission will have to determine if both the modification of the windows and the installation of the meters meet the standards of the Randall Park Local Historic District Plan and the Landmarks Ordinance. See Attachment 2. 6. Certificate of Appropriateness (CoA) 244 Lake Street A request by Ed & Joe Garlick, owners, to install an eight (8) meter bank of electrical meters that Xcel Energy is requiring them to move from the basement of the structure to an exterior wall. The Landmarks Commission will have to determine if attaching the electrical meters to the exterior of the structure meets the standards of the Randall Park Local Historic District Plan and the Landmarks Ordinance. See Attachment 3. 7. Certificate of Appropriateness (CoA) 1302 State Street A request by Ed & Joe Garlick, owners, to install a six (6) meter bank of electrical meters that Xcel Energy is requiring them to move from the basement to the exterior of the structure. The Landmarks Commission will have to determine if attaching the electrical meters to the exterior of the structure meets the standards of the Randall Park Local Historic District Plan and the Landmarks Ordinance. See Attachment 4. 8. Presentation on Forest Hill Cemetery National Register Nomination Gail Klein with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will be presenting her work on preparing the nomination of Forest Hill Cemetery to the National Register. Attachment 5 is the draft register form. 9. Future Agenda/Updates 10. Adjournment DRAFT – NOT APPROVED Landmarks Commission Minutes May 18, 2026 Members Present: Raivo Balciunas, Dave Barnes, Megan Beer-Pemberton, Bob Tollefson Members Absent: Aaron Brewster, Robert Gough, John Gyorfi Staff Present: Peter Baumgartner, Ned Noel, Pat Newkirk The following items were on the agenda: 1. Call to order Chair Balciunas called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. 2. Roll call Roll was taken and a quorum was present. 3. Open public comment period for items that do not appear on this agenda. None. 4. Approval of the 4/20/26 Minutes Motion by Commissioner Megan Beer-Pemberton to approve the Landmarks Commission minutes, seconded by Commissioner Barnes, and approved unanimously. 5. Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) – 420 Hudson Street Baumgartner stated this item was proposed from the last month meeting. Shane Harel share updates based on what the commission wanted to see. He spoke on keeping the corner vertical pillars with the corner crowns and wrapped white. They want to keep the integrity of the building’s look. There is only one layer of existing siding to be covered with new 4” D4 siding. J channeling will be done to integrate as best as possible. The accent eyebrows will stay. The lattice will be taken off being damaged and wrapped it to make all uniform. The flowerbed by the window is rotten so will be removed. Downspouts will be white being integrated into the soffit. No shutters will be added. Motion to approve the proposal by Commissioner Barnes, second by Commissioner Tollefson and approved unanimously. 6. Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) – Carson Park Baseball Stadium Baumgartner went over the four phases of the proposed improvements. The grandstand upgrades for waterproof and strengthening the structure, two new sideline stands and giftshop with restrooms and new turf surface. Pat Newkirk spoke about the project with RVA architects on a feasible revamp of the stadium. The project started about 10 years with some donated funding. The intension is to match and complement the improvements with the extension. The stormwater will go into the field and out. The steel columns and beans will be remediated. Tuckpointing and period lighting will be future improvements and 3rd based would be later funding and the last phase could be artificial turf to extend the scheduling of games and maybe add women’s fastpitch. DRAFT – NOT APPROVED A SHPO representative reviewed the project on site and received plans. A formal application will be provided after commission review. Phase 1 first base and restroom building would start around mid-August of 2026. Bleachers and possibly the grandstand would installed after 2027 after the baseball season ends. A motion was made by Commissioner Beer-Pemberton to approve the COA for the grandstand improvements and recommendation for the national designated components, it was seconded by Commissioner Barnes, and approved unanimously. 7. Discussion – Commissioner Gyorfi’s Landmark Property Videos Commissioner Gyorfi was absent from the meeting, no discussion was had. 8. Future agenda items and announcements I. Future Agenda Items: a. Presentation by Consultant on National Landmarking of Forest Hill Cemetery b. More possible COAs 9. Adjournment Chair Balciunas called for adjournment of the meeting at 5:36 p.m. Submitted by, Robert Gough, Secretary LANDMARKS STAFF REPORT TO: Landmarks Commission MEETING DATE: LANDMARKS COMMISSION: 6/15/26, 5:00 p.m. FROM: City of Eau Claire Community Development Department AGENDA ITEM: A request for the approval of a Certificate of Appropriateness for modify/block-in three (3) existing basement windows to facilitate the installation of eight electrical meters on the exterior wall of 620 3rd Street. APPLICANT: Ed & Joseph Garlick PROPERTY OWNER: EDJ Limited Liability CO SURROUNDING LAND USE: North: Residential East: Residential South: Residential West: Residential LANDMARK DISTRICT: Randall Park Local Historic District STRUCTURE CLASSIFICATION: Pivotal OVERVIEW 620 3rd Street, also known as the Dr. Edmund Hayes House, is noted in the Randall Park Local Historic Landmark District Plan (RPLHLDP) as being pivotal to the historic nature of the district. According to the original landmarks survey, the Edmund Hayes was built in 1900 and is considered to be an architecturally significant example of the classical revival style that was designed by the distinguished architect of Cass Gilbert out of Minneapolis. Due to issues with insurance on historic structures, the applicant is looking to upgrade the electrical systems of the various structures that they own around the city. As part of this upgrade, Xcel Energy is requiring them to relocate their electrical meters from the basement of the structure to an exterior wall. As part of this relocation, the applicants are seeking to swap out the existing double-hung basement windows with smaller sliding/casement windows and fill in the area around it with concrete block. These changes to the exterior of the structure prompt a review by the Landmarks Commission. Attached to this report are the application, the applicant’s description of the work, a mock-up of how the meters would look on the wall, the original 1981 historic property survey, and an aerial photo showing the approximate location of where the work is being done. 620 3rd Street Page 2 ANALYSIS Regarding the replacement of the windows first, Section V. K. of the Randall Park Historic Local Landmark District Plan recommends, but does not require, that the replacement of original windows should be done with units that duplicate the original in terms of materials and appearance. Rather than the proposed slider/casement window that the applicant is suggesting, a better alternative might be a single or double hung window with muntins that is more visually similar to the existing window. In the same vein, blocking in portions of the original window area should also mimic the surrounding materials. Instead of generic concrete block, an alternative of stone-faced block would be more appropriate. The proposal to install the eight new electrical meters on the exterior of the per Xcel Energy’s policy would fall under Section V.D of the Randall Park Historic Local Landmark District Plan. This section states that alterations that are not visible from the street are permitted if their design is compatible with the scale of the existing house, the color and materials of the house, and it must harmonize with the architectural design rather than contrast with it. At the same time that the meter installation is subject to the standards of the landmark district, it is also subject to Section 17.04.02.C.1. which require wall-mounted utilities to be screened from other properties. C.2. mentions adding walls or shrubs as options to screen the utilities with C.3. providing the alternative of painting the equipment to match the structure as an alternative. With those two requirements in mind, if the commission chooses to approve this alteration, staff recommends adding the condition of painting the meters to match the color of the siding that it’s attached to. LANDMARK DECISION In Landmarks’ consideration of the applicant’s request, it is important to balance maintenance needs with visual historic preservation aspects. The Commission may approve, approve with conditions, or deny with findings. The criteria listed in 2.65.040 (B)(2) shall be used to review and make decisions. “The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation” shall apply to construction, reconstruction and exterior alterations. These standards are as follows: 1) Every reasonable effort shall be made to provide a compatible use for a property which requires minimal alteration of the building, structure, or site and its environment, or to use a property for its intended purpose. 2) The distinguishing original qualities or character of a building, structure, or site and its environment shall not be destroyed. The removal or alteration of any historic material or distinctive architectural features should be avoided when possible. 3) All buildings, structures, and sites should be recognized as products of their own time. Alterations which have no historical basis and which seek to create an earlier appearance shall be discouraged. 620 3rd Street Page 3 4) Changes which may have taken place in the course of time are evidence of the history and development of a building, structure or site and its environment. These changes may have acquired significance in their own right, and this significance should be recognized and respected. 5) Distinctive stylistic features or examples of skilled craftsmanship which characterize a building, structure, or site, shall be treated with sensitivity. 6) Deteriorated architectural features shall be repaired rather than replaced, wherever possible. In the event replacement is necessary, the new material should match the material being replaced in composition, design, color, texture, and other visual qualities. Repair or replacement of missing architectural features should be based on accurate duplications of features, substantiated by historical physical, or pictorial evidence rather than on conjectural designs or the availability of different architectural elements from other buildings or structures. 7) The surface cleaning of structures should be undertaken with the gentlest means possible. Sandblasting and other cleaning methods that will damage the historic building materials shall not be undertaken. 8) Every reasonable effort should be made to protect and preserve archeological resources affected by, or adjacent to, any project. 9) Contemporary design for alterations and additions to existing properties shall not be discouraged when such alterations and additions do not destroy significant historical, architectural or cultural material, and such design is compatible with the size, scale, color, material and character of the property neighborhood or environment. 10) Whenever possible, new additions or alterations to structures shall be done in such a manner that if such additions or alterations were to be removed, in the future, the essential form and integrity of the structure would be unimpaired. B. For structures located within an historic district, the standards and guidelines adopted in district plans pursuant to Section 2.65.050 (B) shall apply, in addition to the criteria listed above. The significance assigned a property in a district plan as pivotal, contributing or non- contributing shall be given decisive weight by the Commission when the Commission applies the district standards and guidelines to a proposed project. The Commission shall require greater conformance to such standards and guidelines for properties which are historically or architecturally significant and which contribute to or complement the district. 620 3rd Street Page 4 620 3rd Street Page 5 620 3rd Street Page 6 Aerial Map - 620 3rd Avenue 0 30 6015 Feet µ 3RD AVE LAKE ST Subject Property Location of proposed work. Classified as Business620 3rdAvenue, Eau Claire, WIThe Historic Home of Miriam & Edmund Hayes Family Constructed - 1891Owned by: EDJ Rentals LLC – Privately Owned Company Classified as Business Miriam & Edmund Hayes House – 1891244 Lake Street Classified as Business EDJ Rentals LLC Operated by: EDJ Rentals LLC Classified as Business Advanced Electrical Mechanical Site Plans Property ViewExterior Mounting SurfaceBasement window replacement on the exterior below the new panel. Classified as Business Advanced Electrical Mechanical Site Plans Proposed Site Plan & Project Narrative:1.EDJ Rentals is updating to exterior electrical meters with interior circuit breakers. 2.A field visit will be arranged with the city inspector to ensure the updated electrical panel is fully to code. 3.The electrical panels will be 8. 4.The number of meters will be 8. 5.EDJ Rentals LLC/Advanced Electrical Mechanical has reviewed the plan with Xcel Energy, with an exception request to keep the meters inside the property, but the request has been denied. Classified as Business Advanced Electrical Mechanical Site Plans Conclusion: Timing:Emergency COC Request for Insurance Compliance 1.Application submission: May 22, 20262.Timing of Xcel Energy site visit: March 6, 20263.Timing of the Advanced Electrical Mechanical project will start this installation in June 2026 (two weeks) Classified as Business LANDMARKS STAFF REPORT TO: Landmarks Commission MEETING DATE: LANDMARKS COMMISSION: 6/15/26, 5:00 p.m. FROM: City of Eau Claire Community Development Department AGENDA ITEM: A request for the approval of a Certificate of Appropriateness for the installation of a bank of eight (8) electrical meters on the exterior of 244 Lake Street. APPLICANT: Ed & Joseph Garlick PROPERTY OWNER: Genuine Properties LLP SURROUNDING LAND USE: North: Residential East: County Parking Lot South: Residential West: Residential LANDMARK DISTRICT: Randall Park Local Historic District STRUCTURE CLASSIFICATION: Pivotal OVERVIEW 244 Lake Street, also known as the Clark House, is noted in the Randall Park Local Historic Landmark District Plan (RPLHLDP) as being pivotal to the historic nature of the district. According to the original landmarks survey, the Clark House was built in 1897 it’s combination of Colonial Revival and Neo-Classical architectural styles makes it a significant architectural addition to the district. Due to issues with insurance on historic structures, the applicant is looking to upgrade the electrical systems of the various structures that they own around the city. As part of this upgrade, Xcel Energy is requiring them to move their electrical meters from the basement of the structure to an exterior wall. This alteration of the exterior of the structure prompts a review by the Landmarks Commission. Attached to this report are the application, the applicant’s description of the work, a mock-up of how the meters would look on the wall, the original 1981 historic property survey, and an aerial photo showing the approximate location of where the work is being done. ANALYSIS The proposal to install the eight new electrical meters on the exterior of the per Xcel Energy’s 244 Lake Street Page 2 policy would fall under Section V.D of the Randall Park Historic Local Landmark District Plan. This section states that alterations that are not visible from the street are permitted if their design is compatible with the scale of the existing house, the color and materials of the house, and it must harmonize with the architectural design rather than contrast with it. At the same time that the meter installation is subject to the standards of the landmark district, it is also subject to Section 17.04.02.C.1. which require wall-mounted utilities to be screened from other properties. C.2. mentions adding walls or shrubs as options to screen the utilities with C.3. providing the alternative of painting the equipment to match the structure as an alternative. With those two requirements in mind, if the commission chooses to approve this alteration, staff would recommend adding the condition of painting the meters to match the color of the siding that it’s attached to. LANDMARK DECISION In Landmarks’ consideration of the applicant’s request, it is important to balance maintenance needs with visual historic preservation aspects. The Commission may approve, approve with conditions, or deny with findings. The criteria listed in 2.65.040 (B)(2) shall be used to review and make decisions. “The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation” shall apply to construction, reconstruction and exterior alterations. These standards are as follows: 1) Every reasonable effort shall be made to provide a compatible use for a property which requires minimal alteration of the building, structure, or site and its environment, or to use a property for its intended purpose. 2) The distinguishing original qualities or character of a building, structure, or site and its environment shall not be destroyed. The removal or alteration of any historic material or distinctive architectural features should be avoided when possible. 3) All buildings, structures, and sites should be recognized as products of their own time. Alterations which have no historical basis and which seek to create an earlier appearance shall be discouraged. 4) Changes which may have taken place in the course of time are evidence of the history and development of a building, structure or site and its environment. These changes may have acquired significance in their own right, and this significance should be recognized and respected. 5) Distinctive stylistic features or examples of skilled craftsmanship which characterize a building, structure, or site, shall be treated with sensitivity. 6) Deteriorated architectural features shall be repaired rather than replaced, wherever possible. In the event replacement is necessary, the new material should match the material being replaced in composition, design, color, texture, and other visual qualities. Repair or replacement of missing architectural features should be based on accurate duplications of 244 Lake Street Page 3 features, substantiated by historical physical, or pictorial evidence rather than on conjectural designs or the availability of different architectural elements from other buildings or structures. 7) The surface cleaning of structures should be undertaken with the gentlest means possible. Sandblasting and other cleaning methods that will damage the historic building materials shall not be undertaken. 8) Every reasonable effort should be made to protect and preserve archeological resources affected by, or adjacent to, any project. 9) Contemporary design for alterations and additions to existing properties shall not be discouraged when such alterations and additions do not destroy significant historical, architectural or cultural material, and such design is compatible with the size, scale, color, material and character of the property neighborhood or environment. 10) Whenever possible, new additions or alterations to structures shall be done in such a manner that if such additions or alterations were to be removed, in the future, the essential form and integrity of the structure would be unimpaired. B. For structures located within an historic district, the standards and guidelines adopted in district plans pursuant to Section 2.65.050 (B) shall apply, in addition to the criteria listed above. The significance assigned a property in a district plan as pivotal, contributing or non- contributing shall be given decisive weight by the Commission when the Commission applies the district standards and guidelines to a proposed project. The Commission shall require greater conformance to such standards and guidelines for properties which are historically or architecturally significant and which contribute to or complement the district. 244 Lake Street Page 4 244 Lake Street Page 5 244 Lake Street Page 6 244 Lake Street Page 7 Aerial Map - 244 Lake Street 0 30 6015 Feet µ LAKE ST 3RD AVE Subject Property Location of proposed work. Classified as Business244 Lake Street, Eau Claire, WIThe Historic Home of the Clark Family Constructed - 1897Owned by: Genuine Properties LLP – Privately Owned Company Classified as Business Nancy Clark Home – 1897 244 Lake Street Classified as Business Genuine Properties LLPOperated by: EDJ Rentals LLC Classified as Business Advanced Electrical Mechanical Site Plans 1 of 4 Property ViewCurrent & New LocationCurrent & New Location Additional Spacing Exterior Mounting Service & Overhead Line Classified as Business Advanced Electrical Mechanical Site Plans Proposed Site Plan & Project Narrative:1.EDJ Rentals is updating to exterior electrical meters with interior circuit breakers. 2.A field visit will be arranged with the city inspector to ensure the updated electrical panel is fully to code. 3.The electrical panels will be 8. 4.The number of meters will be 8. 5.EDJ Rentals LLC/Advanced Electrical Mechanical has reviewed the plan with Xcel Energy, with an exception request to keep the meters inside the property, but the request has been denied. Classified as Business Advanced Electrical Mechanical Site Plans Conclusion: Timing:Emergency COC Request for Insurance Compliance 1.Application submission: May 22, 20262.Timing of Xcel Energy site visit: March 6, 20263.Timing of the Advanced Electrical Mechanical project will start this installation in June 2026 (two weeks) Classified as Business LANDMARKS STAFF REPORT TO: Landmarks Commission MEETING DATE: LANDMARKS COMMISSION: 6/15/26, 5:00 p.m. FROM: City of Eau Claire Community Development Department AGENDA ITEM: A request for the approval of a Certificate of Appropriateness for the installation of a bank of six (6) electrical meters on the exterior of 1302 State Street. APPLICANT: Ed & Joseph Garlic PROPERTY OWNER: EDJ LLC SURROUNDING LAND USE: North: Residential East: Residential South: Soon to be vacant residential West: Residential LANDMARK DISTRICT: Third Ward Local Historic District STRUCTURE CLASSIFICATION: Pivotal OVERVIEW 1302 State Street, also known as the A.A. Cutter House, is noted in the Third Ward Local Historic Landmark District Plan (TWLHLDP) as being pivotal to the historic nature of the district. According to the original landmarks survey, the Clark House was built in 1888 and is an excellent example of Queen Ann Style. The applicant is looking to upgrade the electrical systems of the various structures that they own around the city and are being required to by Xcel Energy to move the meters from the basement of the structure to the exterior, prompting review by the Landmarks Commission. Attached to this report are the application, the applicant’s description of the work, a mock-up of how the meters would look on the wall, the original 1981 historic property survey, and an aerial photo showing the approximate location of where the work is being done. ANALYSIS The proposal to install the six new electrical meters on the exterior of the per Xcel Energy’s policy would fall under Section V.C of the Third Ward Historic Local Landmark District Plan. This section states that appearance of all street facades of a building shall not be altered unless the design is sensitive to the historic character of the building. It goes on to specify that any 1302 State Street Page 2 alterations or additions shall compatible with the scale of the existing house, the color of the house, and that any materials on the addition must match those that are on the structure. At the same time that the meter installation is subject to the standards of the landmark district, it is also subject to Section 17.04.02.C.1. which require wall-mounted utilities to be screened from other properties. C.2. mentions adding walls or shrubs as options to screen the utilities with C.3. providing the alternative of painting the equipment to match the structure as an alternative. Given at electrical meters can’t be made out of the same material as the wooden structure, if the Commission chooses to approve this alteration, staff recommends adding the condition of painting the meters to match the color of the siding that it’s attached to as a compromise between the two standards. LANDMARK DECISION In Landmarks’ consideration of the applicant’s request, it is important to balance maintenance needs with visual historic preservation aspects. The Commission may approve, approve with conditions, or deny with findings. The criteria listed in 2.65.040 (B)(2) shall be used to review and make decisions. “The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation” shall apply to construction, reconstruction and exterior alterations. These standards are as follows: 1) Every reasonable effort shall be made to provide a compatible use for a property which requires minimal alteration of the building, structure, or site and its environment, or to use a property for its intended purpose. 2) The distinguishing original qualities or character of a building, structure, or site and its environment shall not be destroyed. The removal or alteration of any historic material or distinctive architectural features should be avoided when possible. 3) All buildings, structures, and sites should be recognized as products of their own time. Alterations which have no historical basis and which seek to create an earlier appearance shall be discouraged. 4) Changes which may have taken place in the course of time are evidence of the history and development of a building, structure or site and its environment. These changes may have acquired significance in their own right, and this significance should be recognized and respected. 5) Distinctive stylistic features or examples of skilled craftsmanship which characterize a building, structure, or site, shall be treated with sensitivity. 6) Deteriorated architectural features shall be repaired rather than replaced, wherever possible. In the event replacement is necessary, the new material should match the material being replaced in composition, design, color, texture, and other visual qualities. Repair or replacement of missing architectural features should be based on accurate duplications of 1302 State Street Page 3 features, substantiated by historical physical, or pictorial evidence rather than on conjectural designs or the availability of different architectural elements from other buildings or structures. 7) The surface cleaning of structures should be undertaken with the gentlest means possible. Sandblasting and other cleaning methods that will damage the historic building materials shall not be undertaken. 8) Every reasonable effort should be made to protect and preserve archeological resources affected by, or adjacent to, any project. 9) Contemporary design for alterations and additions to existing properties shall not be discouraged when such alterations and additions do not destroy significant historical, architectural or cultural material, and such design is compatible with the size, scale, color, material and character of the property neighborhood or environment. 10) Whenever possible, new additions or alterations to structures shall be done in such a manner that if such additions or alterations were to be removed, in the future, the essential form and integrity of the structure would be unimpaired. B. For structures located within an historic district, the standards and guidelines adopted in district plans pursuant to Section 2.65.050 (B) shall apply, in addition to the criteria listed above. The significance assigned a property in a district plan as pivotal, contributing or non- contributing shall be given decisive weight by the Commission when the Commission applies the district standards and guidelines to a proposed project. The Commission shall require greater conformance to such standards and guidelines for properties which are historically or architecturally significant and which contribute to or complement the district. 1302 State Street Page 4 1302 State Street Page 5 1302 State Street Page 6 Aerial Map - 1302 State Street 0 40 8020 Feet µ STATE ST GILBERT AVE OAKWOOD PL Subject Property Location of proposed work. Classified as Business1302 State Street, Eau Claire, WIThe Historic Addison Cutter Home Constructed – 1885 - 1889Owned by: EDJ Rentals LLC – Privately Owned Company Classified as Business Addison Cutter Home – 1889 244 Lake Street Classified as Business EDJ Rentals LLCOperated by: EDJ Rentals LLC Classified as Business Advanced Electrical Mechanical Site Plans Property View Current Location Classified as Business Advanced Electrical Mechanical Site Plans New exterior panel location to the right of the windows.. Exterior Mounting SerfaceProperty ViewCurrent Basement Location Classified as Business Advanced Electrical Mechanical Site Plans Proposed Site Plan & Project Narratite:1.EDJ Rentals is updating to exterior electrical meters with interior circuit breakers. 2.A field visit will be arranged with the city inspector to ensure the updated electrical panel is fully to code. 3.The electrical panels will be 6. 4.The number of meters will be 6. 5.EDJ Rentals LLC/Advanced Electrical Mechanical has reviewed the plan with Xcel Energy, with an exception request to keep the meters inside the property, but the request has been denied. Classified as Business Advanced Electrical Mechanical Site Plans Conclusion: Timing:Emergency COC Request for Insurance Compliance 1.Application submission: May 22, 20262.Timing of Xcel Energy site visit: March 6, 20263.Timing of the Advanced Electrical Mechanical project will start this installation in June 2026 (two weeks) Classified as Business NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 expiration date 03/31/2026 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. 1. Name of Property Historic name: ______________________________________________ Other names/site number: ______________________________________ Name of related multiple property listing: ___________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. Location Street & number: _____________________________________________ City or town: ____________ State: ____________ County: ____________ Not For Publication: Vicinity: ____________________________________________________________________________ 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this X nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property _X_ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: ___national ___statewide _X_local Applicable National Register Criteria: ___A ___B _X_C ___D Signature of certifying official/Title: Date ______________________________________________ State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government Forest Hill Cemetery N/A N/A 822 Emery Street Eau Claire Eau Claire County United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 1-6 page 2 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official: Date Title : State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government ______________________________________________________________________________ 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) _____________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. Classification Ownership of Property Private: Public – Local Public – State Public – Federal Category of Property Building(s) District Site Structure Object X X United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 1-6 page 3 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Number of Resources within Property Contributing Noncontributing ______0_______ ______0_______ buildings ______1_______ ______0______ sites ______14______ ______0_______ structures ______0_______ ______2______ objects ______15______ ______2_______ Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register ____1____ ____________________________________________________________________________ 6. Function or Use Historic Functions ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Current Functions ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ FUNERARY/Cemetery FUNERARY/Cemetery United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 4 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin _____________________________________________________________________________ 7. Description Architectural Classification ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Materials: Principal exterior materials of the property: ________________________ Narrative Description ______________________________________________________________________________ Summary Paragraph Forest Hill Cemetery is a cohesive historic landscape that encompasses approximately 33 acres of land in the east-central portion of the city of Eau Claire. The landscape is representative of the Rural Cemetery Movement that became fashionable in the United States between the early 1830s and the early twentieth century. Although the earliest burials in the cemetery date to the 1850s, the existing landscape design took shape between 1872 and about 1939. The property retains integrity to this period and is defined by its network of curving pathways, its semi- wooded landscape, its incorporation of a natural hill that separates the cemetery into upper and lower divisions, and its wide variety of grave markers and monuments that range in size from modest stone slabs to Late Gothic and Classical Revival family mausoleums. The cemetery contains 15 contributing resources. In addition to the cemetery site, contributing resources include eight mausoleums, two hillside crypts, three retaining walls, and an iron fence with integrated masonry piers. The cemetery also contains a Late Gothic Revival chapel that was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 (Putnam Memorial Chapel, National Register 99001663). In addition, Forest Hill Cemetery contains thousands of small and mid-sized monuments and grave markers that contribute to its historic setting, but that are too numerous and small in scale to count as individual resources. The property also contains two noncontributing resources: a columbaria plaza and a flagpole monument. Forest Hill Cemetery is currently (and was historically) divided into numbered and lettered sections of varying sizes and shapes; the earliest portion of the cemetery at the northern end of the property is divided into 95 small, numbered sections while the remainder of the cemetery is divided into 15 larger, Classical Revival Late Gothic Revival Limestone, granite, marble, brick United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 5 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin lettered sections. These sections are referenced in the descriptions below and are illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. Setting Forest Hill Cemetery is located in Eau Claire’s Eastside Hill neighborhood, approximately six blocks from the city’s downtown commercial center. Eastside Hill is a residential neighborhood with blocks of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century single-family houses located north, east, and west of the cemetery. Harding Avenue, which runs along the base of the hill south of the cemetery, generally serves as the southern boundary of the Eastside Hill neighborhood; at the base of this hill, on the opposite side of Harding Avenue, the Third Ward neighborhood contains a similar mix of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century single-family houses. The cemetery is located within an irregularly-shaped parcel of land that is bounded by Emery Street to the north, Huebsch Boulevard and Chauncey Street to the east, Harding Avenue to the south, and Dodge Street to the west. Each street is a two-lane, paved city street with concrete curb and gutter. A sidewalk is located along a portion of the cemetery’s Emery Street frontage between Talmadge Street and Huebsch Boulevard; a grass terrace is located between this sidewalk and the Emery Street curb. West of Talmadge Street, the south side of Emery Street is lined by a three-tiered, rusticated concrete-block retaining wall that supports the higher elevations of the adjacent portion of the cemetery block. The Emery Street retaining wall was constructed c.2020 and is located just outside of the cemetery’s northern property line. The northern property line along Emery Street is defined by a contributing wrought iron fence with two stone and concrete piers that flank the primary entry drive (Photo 1). The fence and piers were installed in 1922 (see detailed description below). The western end of the Emery Street fence is joined to a mid-twentieth-century chain link fence that runs along the eastern side of Dodge Street, coinciding with the cemetery’s western property line (Photo 2). No fencing exists along the Huebsch Boulevard edge of the property (Photo 3). However, a number of mature trees remain at intervals along this property line; these are remnants of a tree line planted at this location in 1931 to serve as a visual barrier between the cemetery and the adjacent residential neighborhood. The southern edge of the cemetery is bounded by a steep, wooded hill that rises above Harding Avenue and serves as a natural backdrop for the southern half of the cemetery, further sheltering the property from the surrounding residential neighborhood. The cemetery’s primary entrance is located near the center of its Emery Street frontage with secondary entrances at Huebsch Boulevard and Dodge Street. Both secondary entrances feature swinging gate arms constructed of metal tubing. The Huebsch Boulevard entrance provides access to a small, paved parking lot located near the corner of Huebsch Boulevard and Chauncy Street. A number of small and mid-sized rocks line the edges of the parking lot; these are unfinished and unshaped. A relatively short length of chain link fencing, measuring approximately 230 feet, extends from the southern corner of this parking lot toward the Harding Avenue hill (Photo 4). Although the parcel on which the cemetery is located extends beyond this fence, the fence serves as the eastern boundary of the cemetery as no burials are United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 6 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin located east of the fence where the hillside has long been a popular local destination for sledding and skiing. Site and Grounds Forest Hill Cemetery encompasses approximately 33 acres and more than 12,000 individual interments.1 The landscape within the cemetery is defined by a wooded hill (Photo 5) that divides the cemetery grounds into upper and lower sections and provides scenic vistas from its higher elevations. Throughout the cemetery, a network of interconnected, asphalt-paved pathways provides vehicular and pedestrian access to all of its numbered and lettered sections (Photos 6); at most intersections, small street signs mounted on metal poles provide the names of the cemetery drives. Many of these drives are lined at irregular intervals with mature trees; additional trees and shrubs are scattered throughout the landscape (Photos 7 and 8). In general, plantings throughout the cemetery avoid the appearance of any formal or prescribed arrangement in favor of an informal, naturalistic aesthetic. The overall effect of this design gives the cemetery a sheltered, rustic appearance. This aesthetic is further enhanced by the non- linear arrangement of the pathways which, when coupled with the mature trees that dot the landscape and the steep changes in elevation, prevents clear views of the entire cemetery in any direction. The cemetery’s primary drive connects the Emery Street entrance with the parking area and entrance at Huebsch Boulevard; referred to as Forest Hill Drive, this pathway runs in a straight line from Emery Street to the Putnam Memorial Chapel before winding throughout the remainder of the grounds (Photos 9 and 10). Numerous secondary pathways intersect with Forest Hill Drive and serve to delineate many of the cemetery’s individual sections. The oldest sections, located in the lower division of the cemetery at the northern end of the grounds, contain a relatively dense concentration of traditional upright burial markers as well as a number of flat lawn markers and ledger stones; upright markers include a wide variety of headstones, obelisks, columns, treestones, and other monuments (Photo 11). The northern end of the lower division also contains four contributing, early twentieth-century mausoleums and two contributing, late nineteenth-century crypts recessed into the adjacent hillside; a contributing stone-block retaining wall and other stone block remnants along the hillside indicate the former location of additional hillside crypts that were removed in 2009 (see below for detailed descriptions of the remaining crypts and retaining wall). The Jane S. Putnam Memorial Chapel is located near the center of the cemetery’s lower division; Chapel Drive, which runs parallel to the front (north) elevation of the chapel generally marks the division between the cemetery’s original plat and the 1908 southern extension. The lower division within this southern extension contains four additional mausoleums, clustered in Sections G and H (Photo 12). The land in this area is characterized by a flatter landscape and contains a greater concentration of low-profile burial markers; burial markers in Sections J and K, in 1 Although the city-owned parcel on which the cemetery is located encompasses approximately 51 acres, only about 33 acres of this area is dedicated for cemetery use. See Boundary Description and Boundary Justification for additional information. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 7 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin particular, are limited to flat lawn markers (Photo 13). Section J also contains a twenty-first- century columbarium plaza at its southern end (see detailed description below). The wooded hill that divides the cemetery into upper and lower divisions is transversed by a narrow, paved drive known as Hillside Drive (Photo 14). A low terrace containing a number of burials has been carved out of the hillside at the bottom of Hillside Drive and is supported by a contributing retaining wall of stone block and rusticated concrete block construction that was constructed circa 1890 and circa 2000 (see detailed description below). Another contributing retaining wall is located northwest of this along the south side of Hillside Drive. Constructed in phases, this tall retaining wall is constructed of stone (circa 1890), poured concrete (1959), and concrete block (circa 2000) and is punctuated by a steep set of concrete stairs that provide more direct pedestrian access between the cemetery’s upper and lower divisions (see detailed description below). Anchored in the earth at the upper edge of the Hillside Drive retaining wall is a series of metal posts; each post is capped by a metal loop through which passes a chain providing some degree of safety for pedestrians accessing burial plots along the retaining wall’s upper edge in Sections 84-86. The opposite side of Hillside Drive is lined at its upper end by a newer metal guardrail with wood anchor posts and at its lower end by a row of low metal stanchions with spherical caps; a metal chain passes through each stanchion, forming a low barrier between Hillside Drive and adjacent burial plots in Section 55. Alternative access to the cemetery’s upper division is provided by a more gently graded drive that connects with Forest Hill Drive near the southern end of the property (Photo 15); current cemetery maps also refer to this drive as Forest Hill Drive (for clarity, these drives are labeled as Upper and Lower Forest Hill Drive in Figures 1 and 2). Within the upper division of the cemetery, the northern sections contain a greater concentration of traditional upright markers than the more recently developed southern sections where flat lawn markers are more common. Due to the rolling topography of the upper division, three sets of concrete steps have been constructed along the north edges of its drives to facilitate access to Sections 76-82 and 84-87; although the steps are an element of the property’s historic setting, they are not included in the resource count due to their relatively small scale. Contributing Resources Forest Hill Cemetery’s contributing resources include eight private family mausoleums, two private family hillside crypts, three retaining walls, the cemetery fencing and integrated entry piers, and the cemetery site itself. The property also contains one building, the Putnam Memorial Chapel, that is already listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery contains a large number of small and mid-sized monuments and grave markers throughout the grounds; although none of these are of a sufficient scale to be counted as individual resources, they are considered to be important elements of the property’s setting. Grave markers that are representative of distinct trends in funerary art are not counted as individual resources, but representative examples of these are included in the property’s photographic documentation (see additional information regarding funerary art in Section 8 below). United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 8 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin The following are brief descriptions of the contributing buildings and structures located within Forest Hill Cemetery. Jane E. Putnam Memorial Chapel, 1908 (Map location A, Photo 16) Putnam Memorial Chapel is a one-story, Late Gothic Revival building that was constructed in 1908. The building is rectangular in plan with a concrete foundation, random ashlar walls, and a steeply-pitched gable roof clad in ceramic tile. The front elevation faces northwest and is symmetrical in composition. A smaller building mass – the apse – projects from the building’s rear (southeast) elevation. Each corner of the main building mass is accented by a random ashlar buttress with a heavy, pyramidal pinnacle. At the center of the building’s front (northwest) elevation is pair of paneled wood doors enriched with lancets and long, metal strapwork hinges; the doors are protected beneath a pair of wrought iron gates. Above the doors is a gothic-arched transom that features a leaded-glass composition of three Latin crosses. The doors and transom are recessed within a gothic-arched surround of smooth stone. Putnam Memorial Chapel was listed in the National Register in July 2000 under Criterion C: Architecture as a fine example of a Late Gothic Revival style chapel (NR 99001663). 2 Ellison Mausoleum, 1913, (Map location B, Photo 17) This Classical Revival mausoleum was constructed in 1913 at the western end of Section E by local stone cutter and monument dealer, Anton Mackany. The structure is rectangular in plan with rusticated marble block walls that rest on a smooth marble water table. The roof is comprised of three stone slabs; the outer slabs slope toward the side walls of the structure while the center slab sits above these and features a gabled profile. The front elevation of the mausoleum faces northeast and is symmetrical in composition; it features a pair of metal doors flanked by squared stone pilasters with modest ornamentation at the capitals. Glazing in the upper halves of the doors is protected by decorative metal grilles. Two marble steps provide access to the doors. Above the doors, a marble entablature bears the name “ELLISON.” Above this, a rectangular marble block occupies the space below the center roof slab; this block is ornamented with an engraved “E” and decorative botanical motifs. The side and rear elevations are not fenestrated. This mausoleum was commissioned by Francis (Cook) Ellison (1866-1920) and contains the remains of Francis Ellison, her husband Joseph R. Ellison (1860-1911), Joseph’s mother Bernice (Culver) Ellison-Converse (1840-1925), and his brother Frederick Ellison (1864- 1917). Joseph Ellison was a well-known businessman in Eau Claire before he and his wife relocated to Volusia County, Florida in about 1895 to operate a hotel. 3 Dulany Mausoleum, circa 1925, (Map location C, Photo 18) This small Classical Revival mausoleum was constructed circa 1925 in Section H. The structure is rectangular in plan with stone slab walls that rest on a rusticated stone water table. The roof is 2 National Register of Historic Places, Jane E. Putnam Memorial Chapel, Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, National Register 99001663. 3 “A Marble Mausoleum,” Eau Claire Leader, July 2, 1913. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 9 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin comprised of three stone slabs; the outer slabs slope toward the side walls of the structure while the center slab sits above these and features a gabled profile. The front elevation of the mausoleum faces northwest and is symmetrical in composition with a narrow pair of metal doors at its center. Each door features a vertical band of decorative metal grilles; opaque panels are located beneath the grilles. The wall surrounding the doors is comprised of smooth stone slabs with flanking Tuscan columns. The columns rest on a smooth stone slab that spans the width of the structure and serves as a landing for a pair of shallow stone steps opposite the doors. Rusticated stone blocks near the base of each column support stone urns. An entablature above the columns features the name “DULANY” in relief. Neither side elevation is fenestrated; a small, rectangular opening in the center of the rear (southeast) elevation is covered by a metal grille. This mausoleum was constructed to serve prominent Eau Claire lumberman Daniel Dulany (1853-1925) and his wife Mary (Gould) Dulany (1864-1938). In addition to his business interests, Daniel Dulany sat on the board of directors for two local banks and served on the city’s cemetery committee during the first decade of the twentieth century. Carson Mausoleum, circa 1925, (Map location D, Photo 19) This small Classical Revival mausoleum was constructed circa 1925 in Section H. The structure is rectangular in plan with stone slab walls that rest on a rusticated stone slab water table. The gable roof is comprised of three stone slabs. The front elevation of the mausoleum faces southeast and is symmetrical in composition with a narrow pair of metal doors at its center. Each door features a vertical band of decorative metal grilles; opaque panels are located beneath the grilles. The wall surrounding the doors is comprised of smooth stone slabs with flanking Tuscan columns. The columns rest on a smooth stone slab that spans the width of the structure and serves as a landing for a shallow stone step opposite the doors. Rusticated stone blocks near the base of each column support stone urns. An entablature above the columns is inscribed with the name “CARSON.” The pediment above this is smooth and unornamented. Neither side elevation is fenestrated; a small, rectangular opening in the center of the rear (northwest) elevation is infilled with an opaque panel. The Carson mausoleum houses the remains of William Carson (1819-1898) and Mary Edmonds (Smith) Carson (1828-1887). William Carson was a prominent lumberman who managed the Valley Lumber Company, served as vice president of the Eau Claire National Bank, and held business interests in various other enterprises. Also interred in the Carson mausoleum are William and Mary Carson’s daughter Jessie Carson McIntire (1852-1927) and her husband James McIntire (1836-1903). Lockwood Mausoleum, circa 1925, (Map location E, Photo 20) This small Classical Revival mausoleum was constructed circa 1925 in Section H. The structure is rectangular in plan with stone slab walls that rest on a rusticated stone slab water table. The gable roof is comprised of three stone slabs. The front elevation of the mausoleum faces southeast and is symmetrical in composition with a narrow pair of metal doors at its center. Each door features a vertical band of decorative metal grilles; opaque panels are located beneath the grilles. The wall surrounding the doors is comprised of smooth stone slabs with United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 10 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin flanking Tuscan columns. The columns rest on a smooth stone slab that spans the width of the structure and serves as a landing for a shallow stone step opposite the doors. Rusticated stone blocks near the base of each column support stone urns. An entablature above the columns is inscribed with the name “LOCKWOOD.” The pediment above this is smooth and unornamented. Neither side elevation is fenestrated; a small, rectangular opening in the center of the rear (northwest) elevation is infilled with an opaque panel. The Lockwood mausoleum was built to house the remains of Charles Lockwood (1859-1922) and Fannie (Carson) Lockwood (1863- 1948). Charles Lockwood, a successful Eau Claire banker, married Fannie Carson, the youngest daughter of William and Mary Carson in 1891. The close relationship between the Carson and Lockwood families is evident in the identical design of both the Carson and Lockwood mausoleums. McAlpine Mausoleum, 1914, (Map location F, Photo 21) This Classical Revival mausoleum was constructed in 1914 in Section G. It is rectangular in plan with smooth stone slab walls that rest on a stone block water table. The water table is comprised of three stepped tiers. The roof is comprised of three stone slabs; the outer slabs are sloped toward the side walls of the structure while the center slab sits above these and features a gabled profile. The front elevation of the mausoleum faces west and is symmetrical in composition. A recess at the center of the front elevation contains a narrow pair of metal doors with ornamental grilles in their upper halves. The doors are flanked by smooth stone columns with Corinthian capitals. Adjacent to the columns, both front corners of the mausoleum are pilastered and are accented at the upper extreme with relief bands featuring botanical motifs. This element is mirrored at both rear (east) corners. The columns rest on a stone slab that spans the width of the entry recess and is accessed by three stone steps. Above the columns, an entablature features the name “JOHN McALPINE” in relief; the name is flanked by additional relief panels depicting the masonic double-headed eagle emblem on one side and a heraldic emblem on the other. A rectangular stone panel above the entablature is inscribed with “MCMXIV.” Small stone exedrae (benches) featuring curved corners project from each side of the mausoleum and visually extend its front façade. Neither side elevation is fenestrated. The rear (east) elevation features a rectangular window opening at its center; this features a decorative metal grille and is sheltered under a semi-transparent panel. This mausoleum was constructed in 1914 for wealthy lumberman John McAlpine (1854-1913). McAlpine lived in Eau Claire in the mid-1880s before relocating to Duluth, Minnesota where he became a nationally recognized lumber baron. His death by gunshot in 1913 made national headlines when police investigations failed to identify the perpetrator. McAlpine’s wife Sarah (Keating) McAlpine (1873-1956) and stepson Dale McAlpine (1893-1968) are also interred in the McAlpine Mausoleum. Marston Crypt, 1896, (Map location G, Photo 22) This Romanesque Revival hillside crypt was constructed in 1896 in Section 50. With the exception of its northeast wall, the structure is recessed into the hillside that divides the northern end of the cemetery. The exposed wall is of brick construction and features a stone United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 11 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin block foundation and heavy stone block piers at both ends. Bricks are laid in a common bond. The center of the wall features a rectangular doorway that has been infilled with bricks laid in a stacked bond. A white marble panel at the top of this infill is inscribed with the name “MARSTON.” The infilled doorway is flanked by round-arched stone panels inscribed with the names, birth dates, and death dates of Stephen and Susan Marston. Stone wing walls project from the piers and serve as retaining walls to support the earthen hillside. The ground between the wing walls features four low-profile, stone grave markers identifying additional members of the Marston family. This crypt was commissioned by lumber and feed mill proprietor Stephen Marston (1821-1898) in 1896; Marston and his wife Susan (Wyman) Marston (1823-1893) are interred within. 4 Hillside Crypt, circa 1898 (Map location N, Photo 23) This small, astylistic crypt was constructed circa 1898 and is recessed into the hillside near the junction of Sections 50 and 52. It is rectangular in plan with red brick walls that extend to form a slight parapet along its east (front) elevation. A rectangular opening in the east face of the structure features a brick lintel; this opening is infilled with a large stone block at its upper end and newer bricks with uneven concrete mortar in the remaining space. The crypt may have been constructed for members of the Pauly family who were reported as constructing a hillside crypt of brick construction in 1898. Thompson Mausoleum, circa 1925, (Map location H, Photo 24) This small, astylistic mausoleum was constructed circa 1925 in Section 52. This barrel-vaulted structure is rectangular in plan and is of poured concrete construction. The front elevation faces northeast and is symmetrical in composition. Two square stone panels at the base of the façade are inscribed with “MABEL / 1885-1899” and “FATHER / 1853-1925.” Above this, a marble panel is inscribed with the name “THOMPSON.” Centered above this, a square stone panel is inscribed with “MOTHER / 1861-1950.” The concrete face of the structure has been painted white to match the white stone of the memorial panels. The mausoleum sits on a slight rise that is supported on two sides by a low bank of concrete curbing. The side and rear elevations are not fenestrated and are largely covered in foliage. This mausoleum was built for Norwegian- born Gunder Thompson (1853-1925), Gustava (Jacobsen Arnson) Thompson (1861-1950), and their daughter Mabel Thompson (1885-1899). Gunder Thompson operated dry goods and millinery businesses, served as a local alderman, and held a prominent role in the Scandinavian Workman’s Society. Although fourteen-year-old Mabel Thompson died of influenza approximately twenty-five years before the construction of the family mausoleum, she was later reinterred here. Rydell Mausoleum, 1914, (Map location I, Photo 25) This Late Gothic Revival mausoleum was constructed in 1914 in Section 32. This small structure is rectangular in plan and features rusticated stone block walls and a gable roof of stone slab construction with small stone finials at each gable. The northeast elevation contains a single 4 “May Build a Vault,” Eau Claire Leader, June 5, 1896. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 12 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin doorway enclosed by a wrought iron gate. Visible within this enclosure are three vertically stacked white stone panels bearing the names, birth dates, and death dates of members of the Rydell family. Both side elevations contain windowless wall dormers that project through the eaves and that are ornamented with small stone finials. The southwest elevation is not fenestrated and is largely obscured by a large stone monument that abuts the base of the mausoleum; the monument is of granite construction and features a stepped pedestal with the name “RYDELL” in relief, a center pier accented by diminutive corner columns, and a pyramidal cap surmounted by a draped urn. This mausoleum was built for William and Maggie (Berg) Rydell. William Rydell (1859-1930) was a Swedish-born tavern keeper who established an independent unit of the Scandinavian Workers Association in Eau Claire. The death of his Norwegian-born wife, Maggie Berg (c.1852-1914), prompted the construction of this mausoleum. Koch Mausoleum, circa 1915, (Map location J, Photo 26) This Late Gothic Revival mausoleum was constructed circa 1915 in Section 56. It is rectangular in plan with rusticated stone block walls and a gable roof of stone slab construction with small stone finials at each gable. The southwest elevation contains a single doorway enclosed by a wrought iron gate. Visible within this enclosure are three vertically stacked marble panels bearing the names, birth dates, and death dates of members of the Koch family. A stone panel above the entrance features a shield emblem containing relief lettering reading “CORP’L / G.A. KOCH / CO. G / 1 ST IOWA INF.” Both side elevations contain windowless wall dormers that project through the eaves and that are ornamented with small stone finials. The side and rear elevations are not fenestrated. This mausoleum was built for Gustav Adolph Koch (1831-1898) and his wife Minna (aka Minnie) Koch (1845-1904). 5 Koch served in the Schleswig-Holstein War before emigrating from Germany to the United States; following service in the Civil War, Koch became a successful Eau Claire grain dealer. The Koch mausoleum also houses the remains of Gustav Koch’s sister, Emilia Althans (1854-1905). Retaining Wall for Hillside Crypts, 1898-1902, (Map location K, Photo 27) Located in Sections 50 and 52, this stone block retaining wall was constructed between 1898 and 1902 to run between two crypts that were recessed into the adjacent hillside (one of these was a larger, three-bay crypt while the other was a smaller, single-bay structure). The crypts at each end of the retaining wall were removed in 2009 due to advanced deterioration, but the retaining wall remains. It measures approximately 60 feet in length and is composed of two rows of long stone blocks. The upper blocks feature the family names Atkinson, Shute, Shoemaker, Cameron, and Ross-Gilbert inscribed and in relief. A vertically-oriented stone at the center of the wall bears a masonic insignia in relief: a crown and cross emblem with the motto “In Signo Hoc Vinces,” representing the Knights Templar order. 5 Although the inscription inside the mausoleum indicates that Minna Koch died in 1905, newspaper articles clearly reveal that she passed away in May 1904. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 13 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Retaining Wall for Terraced Burials, circa 1890 (Map location P, Photos 5 and 28) This retaining wall is located in Sections 80, 81, and 82, south of the intersection of Hillside Drive and West Circle Drive. Built circa 1890, the wall is constructed of rusticated stone block with a smaller segment of rusticated concrete masonry units (circa 2000); the concrete portion of the wall was likely constructed to replace an earlier stone wall. The retaining wall measures approximately 150 feet in length, three feet in height at its tallest point, and curves gently to follow the edge of the adjacent drive. Two tablet-style granite markers are incorporated into the stone masonry of the northernmost portion of the retaining wall and project above the upper edge of the wall. The southernmost tablet is engraved with the family name Noble while the northernmost tablet is engraved with the family name Foster, indicating the owners of the terrace burial plots. The retaining wall is punctuated at intervals by three short sets of stone and concrete steps that provide access to the terrace burials above. Hillside Drive Retaining Wall, circa 1890, 1959, circa 2000 (Map location Q, Photos 14 and 29) This retaining wall is located along the south side of Hillside Drive to accommodate the steep slope of the hill. The wall is constructed of concrete block at its eastern end (built circa 2000), poured concrete along the center portion (built in 1959 over portions of an earlier stone wall), and rusticated stone block at its western end (built circa 1890). Stone coping is located along the upper edge of the stone segment and portions of the concrete segment. A steep set of poured concrete steps is incorporated into the wall’s concrete section to provide direct pedestrian access from Hillside Drive to the upper division at Section 84. The Hillside Drive retaining wall measures approximately 250 feet in length; at its highest point, the wall measures over 15 feet in height. Fence and Piers, 1922 (Map location O, Photos 1 and 2) A wrought iron fence runs along the cemetery’s northern property line (along Emery Street). This fence is comprised of pointed iron pickets joined by horizontal top and bottom rails with pointed iron posts at regular intervals. The Emery Street fence line is punctuated by two stone and concrete piers that flank the entry drive. Each pier is comprised of a square, painted concrete base; a squared shaft of irregularly sized, uncut, mortared stone; and a two-tiered, square, painted concrete cap. The western end of the wrought iron fence is joined to a c.1950 chain link fence that runs along the cemetery’s Dodge Street frontage with a smaller segment opposite the property’s Chauncey Street boundary. The chain link fencing was installed in the mid-twentieth century and features galvanized chain link mesh secured to metal posts at regular intervals; each post is topped with a loop cap through which passes a horizontal metal top rail. Noncontributing Resources The cemetery’s two noncontributing resources consist of a flagpole monument and a columbaria plaza; these are counted as noncontributing resources due to their construction dates outside of the cemetery’s period of significance (1872-1939). United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 14 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Simpson Memorial Flagpole, 1946, (Map location M, Photo 30) This monument to Captain Eber E. Simpson was erected in 1946. It is located in front (west) of the Putnam Memorial Chapel where it sits near the center of a triangular, mown grass island that is bounded on all sides by intersecting cemetery drives. The monument consists of a trapezoidal concrete pedestal that supports a metal flagpole. A metal plaque on the north face of the pedestal reads, “IN MEMORY OF / CAPTAIN / EBER E. SIMPSON / 1921-1946.” Captain Simpson was born and raised in Eau Claire and served as a fighter pilot during World War II. He flew 102 missions over the course of seven months and received numerous military awards, including the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal. Upon returning to the United States, Simpson was killed as a passenger in an army airplane that crashed when traveling between airfields. Columbaria Plaza, circa 2000, 2015 (Map location L, Photo 31) The columbaria plaza is located at the southern end of Section J and was constructed in two phases between circa 2000 and 2015. It consists of an irregularly-shaped concrete plaza on which sit two granite columbaria. The southern columbarium was installed circa 2000 and is hexagonal in plan with smooth, dark granite walls and a lighter stone foundation and cap; each of its six sides is divided into a grid of niches, and the majority of these niches are marked by memorial plaques. Bands of unpaved space around this columbarium contain decorative plantings. The northern columbarium was installed in 2015 and is rectangular in plan with smooth, dark granite walls and cap with a lighter, rusticated stone foundation; both of its long walls are divided into a grid of niches, the majority of which feature memorial inscriptions. Two granite benches are located between the two columbaria; each bench features two smooth granite slab legs and a smooth granite slab seat. The plaza is accessed via two concrete sidewalks that join the adjacent cemetery drives; the southern sidewalk features a set of concrete steps with a metal handrail to accommodate a slight grade change. Resource Inventory The following inventory lists each counted resource within the property’s National Register boundary and includes each resource’s historic name, resource type, date of construction, Architecture and History Inventory (AHI) number, map location (see Figures 1 and 2), and contributing (C) or non-contributing (NC) classification. 6 Resource Name Resource Type Date AHI # Map ID Classification Forest Hill Cemetery Site c.1872-1939 246182 N/A C Jane E. Putnam Memorial Chapel Building 1908 41228 A C (NRHP listed) Ellison Mausoleum Structure 1913 248532 B C 6 The Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory (AHI) is a publicly-accessible digital database maintained by the Wisconsin Historical Society. The AHI is searchable by a variety of parameters and can be accessed through the Wisconsin Historical Society website at www.wisconsinhistory.org. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 15 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Dulany Mausoleum Structure c.1925 248533 C C Carson Mausoleum Structure c.1925 248534 D C Lockwood Mausoleum Structure c.1925 248535 E C McAlpine Mausoleum Structure 1914 248536 F C Marston Crypt Structure 1896 248537 G C Thompson Mausoleum Structure c.1925 248538 H C Rydell Mausoleum Structure 1914 248539 I C Koch Mausoleum Structure c.1915 248540 J C Columbaria plaza Object c.2000, 2015 248541 L NC Hillside crypt retaining wall Structure 1898-1902 248542 K C Simpson flagpole monument Object 1946 248543 M NC Hillside crypt Structure c.1898 248544 N C Fence/entry piers Structure 1922 248765 O C Terraced burials retaining wall Structure c.1890 248766 P C Hillside Drive retaining wall Structure c.1890, 1959, c.2000 248767 Q C Integrity Forest Hill Cemetery retains integrity. Remaining character-defining features from the cemetery’s period of significance include its winding pathways, hilly topography with scenic views from the cemetery’s highest elevations, mature trees and other plantings dispersed throughout the grounds, and a broad variety of funerary markers and monuments ranging from simple stone tablets to individual family crypts and mausoleums designed in the Late Gothic and Classical Revival styles. The cemetery’s historic landscape plan, developed during its period of significance, remains intact; this includes the arrangement of the cemetery’s drives and pathways, the location of primary landscape features, and the general size and shape of its numbered and lettered sections. The original spatial relationship between pathways, burial plots, and built features is largely unaltered. In addition, although burials at Forest Hill continue through the present day, modern grave markers are typically not of a size and scale to overwhelm or encroach on the cemetery’s historic appearance; with the exception of the columbaria plaza at the southern end of the property, all of the cemetery’s most substantial built resources were constructed during its period of significance, and each retains integrity. Two of the cemetery’s historic hillside crypts were removed in 2009 (with another removed at an unknown date prior to this) due to potential stability issues resulting from deteriorated masonry; however, two other historic hillside crypts remain to represent this distinctive type of funerary structure; in addition, the original stone retaining wall that spanned the hillside between two of the nonextant crypts has been retained in its original location and bears the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 16 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin family names of those formerly interred in the crypts. The cemetery also retains all of its eight historic, freestanding mausoleums as well as its National-Register-listed chapel. The newest area of the cemetery to be laid out includes Section O in the cemetery’s upper division where the most recent pathway was paved circa 2000; despite its recent development, the irregular shape of Section O is in keeping with the naturalistic, non-linear design that characterizes the oldest portions of the cemetery. Throughout the property, grave markers installed outside of the period of significance (after 1939) are typically modest in size so that these do not overwhelm the cemetery’s collection of pre-1939 grave markers or detract from the property’s historic aesthetic. Overall, Forest Hill Cemetery’s historic features continue to dominate the landscape and the cemetery remains clearly recognizable as a representative of the Rural Cemetery Movement. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 7 page 17 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin _________________________________________________________________ 8. Statement of Significance Applicable National Register Criteria A. Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. B. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. C. Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. D. Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. Criteria Considerations A. Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes B. Removed from its original location C. A birthplace or grave D. A cemetery E. A reconstructed building, object, or structure F. A commemorative property G. Less than 50 years old or achieving significance within the past 50 years X X United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 18 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Areas of Significance ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Period of Significance ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Significant Dates ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Significant Person ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Cultural Affiliation ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Architect/Builder ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Statement of Significance Summary Although it began in the mid-nineteenth century as a simple burial ground with little attention to landscape design, Forest Hill Cemetery began to take on its present aesthetic in 1872 when the newly incorporated City of Eau Claire took over the cemetery’s management and created the layout of burial plots that remains visible at the northern end of the cemetery. Following a substantial expansion of the cemetery grounds in 1908, the City hired landscape architect Landscape Architecture 1872-1939 1872, 1908, 1929 N/A N/A Ramsdell, Charles H. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 19 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Charles Ramsdell to create a cohesive plan for the property. In keeping with the tenets of the Rural Cemetery Movement that had become popular in the United States in the late nineteenth century, Ramsdell’s design allowed Forest Hill Cemetery to continue serving as a public cemetery while also functioning as a de facto public park where visitors were encouraged to enjoy the property’s naturalistic setting. The landscape of the cemetery is defined by a network of meandering pathways, hundreds of mature trees scattered throughout the grounds to provide shade and a sense of shelter or seclusion, and a densely wooded hill that provides topographic variety and allows for scenic views from its upper elevations. Together, these features render Forest Hill Cemetery a fine representative of the Rural Cemetery Movement. The property also contains a substantial collection of historic funerary monuments, markers, crypts, and mausoleums with the oldest dating to the mid-nineteenth century. Because of its local significance in the area of Landscape Architecture, Forest Hill Cemetery is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C. The property’s period of significance is 1872, the year the City of Eau Claire acquired the property and began undertaking improvements to the grounds, to 1939, the approximate year that the City completed its execution of Charles Ramsdell’s landscape plan for the site. Criteria Consideration Forest Hill Cemetery meets the conditions set forth in Criteria Consideration D: Cemeteries as it derives its primary significance from its distinctive design features as a representative of the Rural Cemetery Movement. ______________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Statement of Significance Historic Context The following historic context includes a brief overview of the history and development of the city of Eau Claire, a detailed property history of Forest Hill Cemetery, a history of the Rural Cemetery Movement, an overview of nineteenth and twentieth century funerary art, and a brief biography of landscape architect Charles Ramsdell. City of Eau Claire The city of Eau Claire is located in northwestern Wisconsin, approximately 80 miles from St. Paul, Minnesota, at the confluence of the Chippewa and Eau Claire Rivers. The present-day area encompassing the city of Eau Claire was home to generations of Native American peoples prior to the earliest permanent Euro-American settlement in 1845. That year marked the arrival of Stephen McCann and Jeremiah Thomas – two pioneer settlers who saw the potential profit in establishing a lumber center near the confluence of two rivers that could provide water power for sawmills and that could serve as important log-drive corridors. By the 1860s, despite heavy flooding that destroyed early dams and mill sites, Eau Claire had grown to become known as United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 20 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin one of northern Wisconsin’s most important lumber centers (leading to its “Sawdust City” nickname), and the Eau Claire Lumber Company had emerged as a leader in the industry.7 During this early settlement period, three separate communities emerged within the present- day boundaries of the city of Eau Claire. Known as Eau Claire, West Eau Claire, and North Eau Claire, these settlements were divided by the Chippewa and Eau Claire Rivers and operated somewhat independently of one another until a ferry route was established across the Chippewa River in 1856 facilitating trade and the sharing of services.8 In 1870, the arrival of the West Wisconsin Railway cemented Eau Claire’s position as an important lumber center as well as a regional transportation hub (this railway was later absorbed by the Chicago & North Western Railroad). In 1872, Eau Claire was incorporated as a city, officially merging the former villages of Eau Claire, West Eau Claire, and North Eau Claire into a single entity. The booming lumber industry brought a major influx of workers to Eau Claire through the remainder of the 1870s with the city’s population jumping from 2,293 in 1870 to over 10,000 by 1880. In July 1881, Eau Claire was the site of one of the state’s largest labor strikes when the city’s sawmill workers demanded that their eleven- or twelve-hour workdays be reduced to ten hours; the event prompted the activation of several units of the Wisconsin National Guard whose presence deescalated the situation so that the strike ended with relatively little violence or destruction reported. 9 By 1914, Eau Claire’s population had risen to nearly twenty thousand residents and the city boasted electric lighting (powered by a dam on the Chippewa River), concrete sidewalks, several miles of brick-paved and macadamed roads, bridges over the Chippewa and Eau Claire Rivers, three hospitals and a tuberculosis sanitarium, a prominent public library, six theaters, multiple hotels, a thriving manufacturing sector consisting of more than one hundred individual factories, and an interurban streetcar line that connected the city with Chippewa Falls to the north and Altoona to the east. 10 Eau Claire also contained six cemeteries by this time: Forest Hill Cemetery on the city’s east side, Lake View Cemetery on the west side, and four smaller ethnic and denominational cemeteries that occupied a series of adjacent lots on the north side. 11 In 1916, the formation of the Eau Claire State Normal School – forerunner of today’s University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire – drew 159 teaching students to the city from surrounding areas with enrollment and course offerings increasing over the following years.12 By the first decades of the twentieth century, however, decades of logging had depleted northern Wisconsin timber stands and by 1924, all of Eau Claire’s sawmills had closed. By this 7 William F. Bailey, History of Eau Claire County, Wisconsin (Chicago: C.F. Cooper & Co., 1914), 349-358, 374. 8 Bailey, History of Eau Claire, 349-358. 9 Bailey, History of Eau Claire County, 384-386. 10 Bailey, History of Eau Claire, 382. 11 The small religious and non-secular cemeteries on the city’s north side included a German Catholic cemetery, a Roman Catholic cemetery, a Norwegian cemetery, a German Lutheran cemetery, and a Jewish cemetery. 12 “Campus History,” University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, https://www.uwec.edu/about/campus-history (accessed October 27, 2025). United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 21 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin time, however, another industry had emerged to replace lumbering as the foundation of the city’s economy. In 1917, the Gillette Safety Tire Company built a large factory in the city, and within three years, the factory boasted approximately 1,600 employees. By the 1930s the company had become the largest industrial employer in Eau Claire and among the top five largest in the state. During World War II, the federal government purchased the facility for use as an ammunitions plant which boasted a wartime payroll of approximately 6,200 workers, more than half of whom were women. The promise of wartime employment opportunities brought new residents to the city, bringing its population to more than 30,000. Following the end of World War II, the United States Rubber Company (the Gillette factory’s pre-war owner) regained ownership of the facility and expanded its production to become one of the largest tire factories in the country, operating under the Uniroyal name. 13 As in other cities, Eau Claire’s population increased during the postwar years and spurred the construction of new residential neighborhoods at the outer edges of the city. During this period, the former Eau Claire State Normal School expanded its degree programs and became Wisconsin State College at Eau Claire in 1951 and Wisconsin State University-Eau Claire in 1964. In 1971, with a 50 million dollar building program underway, the school officially became the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with an enrollment of over 8,500 students. 14 By this time, the University had become a major element of the city’s economy. Although the Uniroyal tire factory continued to serve as a key employer in Eau Claire in the 1970s and 1980s, a series of mergers and buyouts led the factory to close in 1992. Today, Eau Claire boasts a population of over 70,000. In addition to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, the city’s economy is supported by its healthcare industry (led by the Mayo Clinic Health System), a wide range of businesses, a robust public school system, and the Menards home improvement retail chain which employs over 11,500 people at its Eau Claire headquarters. 15 Property History The first known burials within the area currently encompassed by Forest Hill Cemetery occurred in the mid-1850s. In 1862, prior to its incorporation as a city, the Town of Eau Claire acquired an approximately 17-acre plot of land containing these burials to formalize the land’s function as a community cemetery. Located at what is now the northern end of the cemetery, this area was roughly bounded by Emery Street to the north, Huebsch Boulevard (formerly Jackson Street) to the east, Newton Street to the south, and an alley between Doty Street and Dodge Street to the west (see Figure 3). 16 Initially referred to as “the east side cemetery,” the property was transferred to the City of Eau Claire in 1872 when the communities of Eau Claire, West Eau 13 Uniroyal, Inc. Records: 1917-1990, finding aid, University of Wisconsin Digital Collections, https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-ec00cb (accessed October 27, 2025). 14 “Campus History,” University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, https://www.uwec.edu/about/campus-history (accessed October 27, 2025). 15 “Key Industries,” City of Eau Claire Economic Development, https://eauclairedevelopment.com/profile/key- industries/ (accessed October 27, 2025). 16 Map of Eau Claire (Milwaukee, WI: Phoenix Map Company, 1875). United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 22 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Claire, and North Eau Claire merged to incorporate as a city.17 Over the following years, reports of the City’s spending indicate that seasonal laborers were hired to provide burial services and to maintain and “beautify” the cemetery grounds. Groundskeeping work included weeding and laying turf where needed, though work was minimal and contributors to the Eau Claire Free Press noted that the approach to the cemetery was anything but smooth and that the grounds were frequently in “disgraceful condition.”18 The first of these issues was addressed in July 1874 when the city council passed a resolution to build a “proper carriage way” to Forest Hill Cemetery. 19 This work included the grading and widening of Emery Street along the cemetery’s northern edge and similar work along Talmadge Street which ran between Emery Street and the area near University Square (today’s University Park). Observers noted that the street improvements would allow “a conspicuous vista” down Talmadge Street and prophesied that the finished roadway would be “among the handsomest thoroughfares in the city.”20 The following year, Eau Claire’s city council made an effort to address groundskeeping issues within the cemetery by hiring a permanent sexton to serve as a general groundskeeper, watchman, and grave digger at both Forest Hill Cemetery and Lake View Cemetery. 21 Following complaints regarding the arduous nature of managing this work at both cemetery locations, the first sexton resigned in 1879. The City responded by dividing the maintenance responsibilities of the two cemeteries between two sextons, each of whom received a salary of twenty dollars per month. 22 Burials at Forest Hill increased steadily through the 1870s and 1880s, corresponding with a marked increase in the city’s population. During this period, reports of dilapidated fencing – and the resulting damage to cemetery grounds caused by wandering livestock – were fairly common. When needed, the city provided funds for the repair or rebuilding of the wood fencing around the property, eventually replacing portions of this with a wire fence in 1894. 23 Three years later, the city approved another expenditure from its cemetery fund for the construction of an outhouse on the cemetery grounds (not extant). 24 Available information suggests that the stone block retaining wall along Hillside Drive and the smaller stone block retaining wall along the terraced burials at the base of Hillside Drive were also constructed during the 1890s. What was likely the first hillside crypt at Forest Hill Cemetery was constructed in 1896. That year, prominent lumber and feed mill proprietor Stephen Marston requested permission from the common council to construct a receiving vault on the cemetery grounds where remains 17 “The east side cemetery…,” Eau Claire Free Press, July 18, 1872. 18 “De Profundis,” Eau Claire Free Press, July 31, 1873. 19 City News: Council Proceedings, Eau Claire Free Press, July 23, 1874. 20 City News, Eau Claire Free Press, September 17, 1874. 21 City News: Council Proceedings, Eau Claire Free Press, June 3, 1875. 22 Common Council Proceedings, Eau Claire Free Press, June 29, 1882. 23 “Steps should be taken…,” Eau Claire Free Press, April 29, 1894. 24 “Notice to Contractors,” Eau Claire Leader, August 11, 1897. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 23 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin could be placed while awaiting burial – a useful structure during winter months when frozen ground made grave digging difficult, if not impossible. Marston requested that the structure be built “into the hillside” at the cemetery’s north end.25 Although his request was approved, the structure was never utilized as a receiving vault but became the permanent Marston family crypt following Stephen Marston’s death in July 1898. 26 The construction of the Marston crypt was followed by the construction of an adjacent hillside crypt for Atkinson family (date unknown, not extant); a three-bay hillside crypt for the Shute, Schoemaker, and Cameron families in 1898 (not extant); and a smaller hillside crypt of brick construction, possibly for the Pauly family, in 1898.27 Four years later, another hillside crypt was constructed for the Ross- Gilbert family (not extant).28 This spurt of new crypt construction prompted the cemetery’s sextant to remark that Forest Hill had become “the most popular cemetery in town.”29 In the spring and summer of 1904, the City built at least one additional carriage drive in the cemetery and improved all of the earlier drives with an overlay of crushed shale in an effort to eliminate the ruts and gouges that led to rough carriage rides and uncomfortable funeral processions. 30 By this time, despite intermittent trouble with vandalism (primarily the theft of flowers), the cemetery had become well regarded in Eau Claire as a “quiet place [of] natural beauty.” 31 However, the day-to-day appearance of the cemetery during this period was largely dependent on the level of maintenance that individual lot owners performed as the city did not expend funds for the upkeep of individual burial plots. By the first decade of the twentieth century, Forest Hill Cemetery had become Eau Claire’s most prominent cemetery and many of the city’s business, industrial, and civic leaders had purchased family plots here. Its prominence, however, meant that most of Forest Hill’s available burial plots had been purchased by this time, slowing any revenue to be gained from additional sales. For nearly twenty years, the city’s cemetery committee had made regular recommendations for a sizable expansion of Forest Hill Cemetery, describing the property’s ability to accommodate new burials as “wholly inadequate.” 32 This much-needed expansion finally occurred in 1908 when the City purchased 33 acres of land from lumberman John S. Owen. The purchase shifted the property’s southern boundary to Harding Avenue and brought the total area of the city- owned parcel to approximately 50 acres (see Figure 4). 33 25 “May Build a Vault,” Eau Claire Leader, June 5, 1896. 26 “Passing of Mr. Marston,” Eau Claire Leader, July 9, 1898. 27 “Two New Vaults,” Eau Claire Leader, September 20, 1898. 28 “A New Vault in Forest Hill,” Eau Claire Telegram, December 4, 1902. 29 “Two New Vaults,” Eau Claire Leader, September 20, 1898. 30 “New Road in Forest Hill Cemetery,” Eau Claire Telegram, May 24, 1904. 31 “Funeral of Early Citizen,” Eau Claire Leader, March 12, 1907. 32 “The cemetery commission…,” Eau Claire Free Press, September 13, 1889. 33 Robert J. Gough and Gergory Kocken, Rest in Nature: A Guide to Eau Claire’s Forest Hill Cemetery (Eau Claire, WI: Chippewa Valley Museum Press, 2022), 17. Note that although the city-owned parcel was expanded to approximately 50 acres, only approximately 33 acres of this was reserved for cemetery use. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 24 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin One of the strongest supporters of the cemetery expansion project was Henry C. Putnam, chair of the city’s cemetery committee. Putnam’s wife Jane E. (Balcom) Putnam had bequeathed a substantial sum of money for the construction of a chapel at Forest Hill upon her death in 1907. The 1908 expansion allowed ample space for the chapel’s construction near the junction between the original cemetery plat and the newly annexed land. Completed by fall 1908, the Jane E. Putnam Memorial Chapel served as a sanctuary for use during funeral services, a receiving vault containing 24 chambers for winter use, and a private below-ground crypt serving members of the Putnam family. More broadly, the Putnam Memorial Chapel was looked upon as a “beautifier to the burial grounds” due to its prominent location near the center of the newly enlarged cemetery as well as its picturesque Late Gothic Revival style that complemented the cemetery’s naturalistic aesthetic. 34 Following the chapel’s completion, additional cemetery drives were constructed around the building to facilitate its use; an effort was made to ensure that the new paths featured curving alignments rather than sharp corners or grid-like intersections.35 Several years prior to the expansion of Forest Hill Cemetery, the City of Eau Claire had invited Warren H. Manning, a noted landscape architect based in Boston, to make recommendations for the improvement of its parks and cemeteries. 36 Although Manning prepared a written list of recommendations for the City in keeping with his naturalistic approach to landscape design, the City took no action to hire Manning to execute this work; following the purchase of the additional acreage for Forest Hill, however, the City reviewed Manning’s previous recommendations and requested a meeting with the firm’s western representative, a young landscape architect named Charles H. Ramsdell. In 1909, Ramsdell visited Eau Claire to survey the new addition to Forest Hill Cemetery. Following his inspection of the old and new sections of the cemetery, as well as a visit to a proposed city park centered around a natural feature known as Mount Tom, Ramsdell wrote to city aldermen: “[T]here are many possibilities in the [new] tract which I feel sure you do not now appreciate…To say I was surprised is to put it mildly. The view from its heights surpasses that from Mt. Tom, in my estimation, and it will be readily accessible to all classes of travel, while roads on [Mt. Tom] will always be steep and the climb hard on pedestrians. In treating this property, it is possible to lay it out in such a way that the cemetery uses of the tract can be well utilized and then a road and path which can be away from the other areas would soon become one of the most popular in the city for those who are seeking natural scenery and the quiet drives where it is usually found. Eau Claire is much in need of this sort of drive, and the park areas are very inadequate to the future needs of her people. Still at the same time, there are large areas of the lower ground, well adapted for its intended use. The 34 “Gift from Late Mrs. Putnam,” Eau Claire Leader, August 6, 1908. 35 “Forest Hill Cemetery Marks an Improvement,” Eau Claire Leader, August 13, 1909. 36 “Parks of Eau Claire,” Eau Claire Telegram, December 6, 1905. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 25 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin new chapel is very well located on the axis of the entrance drive, and altogether you can have a cemetery unique in this section of the country, because of its accessibility and the remarkable views from certain points. I hope you will let no one spoil this state of nature by any square or rectilinear platting of lots and roads. These will be inconvenient and steep, and not in keeping with the topography, which is high and rolling…” 37 Although Ramsdell encouraged the City to engage Manning’s firm to execute a plan for the property based on these recommendations, the City did not follow through on this suggestion, and few improvements to the cemetery grounds were made in the decade following the 1908 expansion. However, it was during this period that the first of the cemetery’s eight freestanding mausoleums was built, adding to Forest Hill’s reputation as the final resting place of many of the city’s most prominent families. Completed in August 1913, the Ellison family’s Classical Revival mausoleum was constructed of rusticated marble that complemented the cemetery’s naturalistic setting. 38 The construction of seven additional private family mausoleums continued through the mid-1920s. This period also saw a shift in the City’s approach to the management and maintenance of the cemetery’s burial plots. Throughout much of the cemetery’s history, neglect on the part of some burial plot owners and their families – or the simple lack of living descendants in the area – resulted in a substantial number of unkept lots, frustrating those concerned with maintaining the cemetery’s appealing aesthetic. By 1914, as a solution to this problem, the city began offering the purchase of perpetual care lots; though offered at a higher price than traditional lots, the purchase price covered the city’s ongoing maintenance of the burial plot in perpetuity. 39 Eventually, the success of this measure led the City to charge an annual fee to lot owners who did not have a perpetual care arrangement, ensuring that the visual appeal of the cemetery grounds would be maintained (see Figures 5 and 6 for historic photographs of the cemetery from this period). 40 In 1922, the City undertook another project to enhance the appearance of the cemetery; this consisted of the installation of the existing wrought iron fence and entry piers along Emery Street.41 In fall 1929, the City of Eau Claire finally engaged Charles Ramsdell to draft a formal landscape plan for Forest Hill Cemetery. In the years following his first visit to Eau Claire in 1909, Ramsdell had established his own landscape architecture practice in Minneapolis and executed landscape plans for Eau Claire’s Owen Park as well as the Eau Claire Country Club golf course. Although Ramsdell’s 1929 cemetery plan focused on the newer portions of the cemetery, Ramsdell also made recommendations for improvements to the original cemetery plat with a phased program 37 “For Beautifying the Cemeteries,” Eau Claire Leader, May 15, 1909. 38 “A Marble Mausoleum,” Eau Claire Leader, July 2, 1913. 39 Bailey, History of Eau Claire, 382. 40 Gough and Kocken, Rest in Nature, 18. 41 “40 Years Ago,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, April 28, 1962. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 26 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin of execution “to be followed by the city over a period of years, with a certain amount of the development to be carried out each year.”42 Although Ramsdell’s phased design called for at least one feature that never materialized (the construction of an ornamental gate at the cemetery’s Emery Street entrance), frequent newspaper references to Ramsdell’s plan over the following years indicate that the City was able to execute a number of the design’s key elements, despite limited funding. This included the construction of a series of winding, scenic drives that provided picturesque vistas; the leveling of a small hill in an open area at the southern end of the cemetery; and the infill of a marshy area along Huebsch Boulevard. 43 Another important element of Ramsdell’s landscape plan was the planting of white pine trees along the hill slope above Harding Avenue where the sandy soil and steep grade made this area unsuitable for burials. Execution of the first phase of Ramsdell’s plan began in May 1930 when the local firm of L.G. Arnold was hired to level a small hill at the southern end of the cemetery and use the resulting 11,300 cubic yards of earth to fill the adjacent low-lying land along Huebsch Boulevard; this work was completed in mid-June 1930. 44 Workmen began constructing the existing drives in this section of the cemetery later that fall. The Eau Claire Leader Telegram provided regular updates on the progress of this work, including the following report printed on November 23, 1930: “With men, teams, and tractors engaged, development of the new addition to the Forest Hill cemetery is moving apace. The layout has now taken on such shape as to give a good idea of the beauty of the addition. The bare slopes left by the removal of the hill which was used to fill in the low, marshy area along Huebsch Boulevard have been sodded, several oak trees which interfered with the general plan of landscaping have been pulled out by the tractors, and winding roadways are being laid out according to the plans prepared by Chas. H. Ramsdell, Minneapolis landscape architect…Ultimately, it is planned, among other things to lay out a scenic drive along the ridges on the western side of the cemetery property, a large part of which still remains to be developed. Wonderful views of the city and surrounding territory can be had from some of the highest points on this drive.” 45 During the same period of activity in 1930, the City purchased 5,000 white pine trees from the Wisconsin Conservation Commission at a cost of six dollars per thousand; these saplings were 42 “Forest Hill Development Plans Ready,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, January 31, 1930. 43 “Series of Drives Included in Cemetery Development Project at Forest Hill,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, February 1, 1930. 44 “Contract for Moving Mound is Let by City,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, May 22, 1930. “Pine Transplants Received by City,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, May 8, 1930. “Cemetery Work Nears Finish,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, June 14, 1930. 45 “Development of Cemetery Site Shows Results,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, November 23, 1930. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 27 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin planted in Eau Claire’s Carson Park to mature sufficiently before being transplanted to the Forest Hill slope above Harding Avenue.46 In 1931, at Ramsdell’s recommendation, an old tool shed utilized by the cemetery sextant was removed from the north end of the cemetery as a means of improving the view from the Emery Street entrance. As a replacement for the old tool shed, the city hired local architect Aloysius W. Bayer to design a new building containing an office for the cemetery sextant, a tool storage area, and restrooms for use by cemetery visitors. Located outside of the cemetery on a city- owned lot across Emery Street from the cemetery’s main entrance, the building measured approximately 32 feet by 22 feet and was designed to blend in with the residential aesthetic of other buildings on the street (this building was replaced with the existing cemetery office/utility building in 1974). 47 Other work executed in 1931 included the widening of the main entry drive to accommodate two-way traffic and the planting of trees along the cemetery side of Huebsch Boulevard “for the purpose of forming a background and a seclusion for the cemetery.”48 This sense of seclusion was an important element of Rural Cemetery designs that was intended to give visitors a sense of peace and removal from the ordinary, urban atmosphere of the surrounding city. For the same reason, Ramsdell recommended that the City avoid constructing a public sidewalk along the cemetery side of Huebsch Boulevard; instead, following Ramsdell’s advice, the City constructed a sidewalk along the eastern side of the street, opposite the cemetery, in 1940. 49 As in other cities, local unemployment in Eau Claire peaked during the Great Depression, and the City utilized the development of Forest Hill Cemetery and other public works projects as a means of keeping “as many men at work as could be consistently done.” 50 In September 1932, one of these work relief projects included “extensive improvements” within the cemetery’s northwestern quarter; to this end, crews of workmen filled low-lying areas between Earl and Newton Streets (near today’s Section O) and used paving bricks salvaged from Eau Claire street projects to construct a retaining wall along the hillside facing Emery Street.51 Work during this season also included the addition of fresh gravel to the cemetery drives. By January 1933, the southeast sections of the cemetery had been “laid out in an attractive manner with winding roadways or lanes,” containing 632 platted burial plots that were “partly located on flat ground and partly on slopes.” 52 In consideration of the future maintenance requirements of the cemetery as well as new trends in cemetery management and design, the 46 “Pine Transplants Received by City,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, May 8, 1930. 47 “Gate House to be Built at Cemetery,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, April 17, 1931. 48 “Council Acts of Affairs of Minor Import,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, March 21, 1930. “City Widening Two Streets,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, February 3, 1931. 49 “Petitions Heard by City Council,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, January 18, 1940. 50 “C.C. Officials Make Reports at Yearly Meet,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, March 11, 1931. 51 “Cemetery Improvements,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, September 10, 1932. “Improvements at Cemetery Near Finish,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, September 24, 1932. 52 “Arrangement of Cemetery Plat Studied,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, January 19, 1933. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 28 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin City drafted a resolution requiring the owners of any plots in this newest section of the cemetery (Sections I and J) to utilize only flat grave markers measuring less than two inches in height – though traditional vertical monuments continued to be accepted throughout other portions of the cemetery. 53 Later that year, the City planted approximately 200 trees, including elms and hackberries, along the drives that had been constructed over the previous two years.54 In 1934, the City utilized federal work relief funding through the Civil Works Administration (CWA) to complete additional grading and seeding work at Forest Hill. 55 CWA monies were also utilized that year to fund the removal of old masonry curbing and other enclosures that had been installed around a number of family plots in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.56 Through the remainder of the 1930s, the most substantial developments at Forest Hill consisted of additional tree planting.57 Historic aerial photographs suggest that by May 1939, the majority of the cemetery’s existing drives, delineating individual sections, had been completed (see Figures 7 and 8). In the years following World War II, burials increased in the newly platted sections at the cemetery’s southern end. The height restrictions on burial markers in Sections I and J corresponded with the rising popularity of memorial park or lawn cemeteries during this period; in addition to facilitating lawn mowing, the low-profile markers in these sections reflect the distinct minimalist aesthetic that had become a popular element of cemetery design in the mid-twentieth century. By 1958, the trees that had been planted throughout the cemetery in the 1930s had matured sufficiently to create sheltered drives throughout the 1908 expansion, bringing the level of foliage in the southern half of the cemetery in line with that of the northern half. The most substantial additions to the cemetery grounds in the latter half of the twentieth century consisted of the construction of a poured concrete extension to the retaining wall along Hillside Drive in 1959 and the construction a paved parking lot near the Huebsch Boulevard entrance around 1990. 58 About ten years later, the City constructed a columbarium plaza at the southern edge of Section J, reflecting a growing national trend that favored cremation as an alternative to traditional burial. The plaza was expanded in 2005 to include a second columbarium. In more recent years, the most substantial work in Forest Hill Cemetery consisted of the removal of two hillside crypts in 2009. Located at the northern end of the cemetery in Section 50, these structures were constructed between the late 1890s and early 1900s and, like the remaining Marston Crypt, were recessed into the hillside. The largest of these structures was a 53 “Arrangement of Cemetery Plat Studied,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, January 19, 1933. 54 “Trees Purchased for Cemetery,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, April 20, 1933. 55 “Cemetery Work Approved for Work Relief,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, April 15, 1934. 56 “Curbing, Walls Removed from Lots in Cemeteries,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, August 19, 1934. 57 “Improvements at Carson Park are Started by City,” Eau Claire Leader Telegram, April 23, 1938. 58 “Reinforced Concrete Retaining Wall at Forest Hill Cemetery,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, August 14, 1959. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 29 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin three-family crypt with individual bays constructed for the Schoemaker, Cameron, and Shute families; the smaller structure was a single-bay crypt constructed for the Ross-Gilbert family. These structures were removed in 2009 due to safety concerns relating to their decayed condition, and remains within the crypts were cremated or reburied.59 A stone block retaining wall bearing the family names of those associated with the nonextant mausoleums remains at the base of the hill, indicating the former location of these structures. A third hillside crypt, constructed for the Atkinson family in the late 1890s, had already been deconstructed by 2009, though the date of this work is unknown. Rural Cemetery Movement In early American history, burial in urban areas typically occurred in churchyards not far from town centers. However, as urban populations increased through the first decades of the nineteenth century, churchyards became overcrowded with burials and the valuable real estate on which they sat was frequently threatened by residential and industrial expansion. The encroachment of cities into these early burial grounds caused contemporary observers to lament the lack of reverence for the dead. 60 By the early 1830s, the need for new burial grounds, located outside of city centers, had become imperative. At the same time, the country’s increasing urbanization had led city dwellers to adopt a highly romanticized view of the natural world. 61 In contrast with the colonial attitude that nature was an element to be conquered and civilized by its conversion into useful farms and cities, Americans in the first half of the nineteenth century began to view nature as a valuable resource to be sought out and preserved. 62 Meanwhile, American landscape architects (a professional title first used in this country by Frederick Law Olmstead in 1863) had become inspired by the garden-like design of the prestigious French cemetery, Pere-Lachaise, which had been established in 1804. Additional inspiration came from the naturalistic Romantic European garden designs of the previous century in which vast country estates had been transformed into sprawling pastoral landscapes. 63 The combined result of the country’s increasing urbanization, the overcrowding of city cemeteries, and landscape designers’ professional interest in European garden precedents was the Rural Cemetery Movement – named for the edge-of-town locations of its naturalistic landscapes. America’s first “rural” cemetery was Mount Auburn Cemetery, established in 1831 outside of Boston. Contrary to the preceding churchyard burial grounds where “landscape seldom extended beyond the sporadic shrub or tree,” Mount Auburn was heavily landscaped 59 “Century old Eau Claire mausoleum to be dismantled,” Pioneer Press, March 29, 2009. 60 Thomas Bender, “The ‘Rural’ Cemetery Movement: Urban Travail and the Appeal of Nature,” The New England Quarterly, Vol. 47, No.2 (June 1974), 200-202. 61 Bender, “The ‘Rural’ Cemetery Movement,” 202-204. 62 Jeffrey Smith, The Rural Cemetery Movement: Places of Paradox in Nineteenth-Century America (New York: Lexington Books, 2017), 17. 63 Elisabeth Walton Potter and Beth M. Boland, “Guidelines for Evaluating and Registering Cemeteries and Burial Places,” National Register Bulletin 41 (U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1993). United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 30 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin with a wide variety of mature trees and other plantings, evoking a wooded glen.64 A number of similarly modeled cemeteries followed in the 1830s and 1840s; these included Philadelphia’s Laurel Hill Cemetery in 1836, Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery in 1838, and Lowell Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1841. In Wisconsin, Milwaukee’s Forest Home Cemetery was established in 1850, making it the state’s first representative of the Rural Cemetery Movement.65 Typical rural cemeteries included expansive acreage and were established at hilly, wooded sites between one and five miles outside of the cities they were meant to serve. The sites were further enhanced by grading and the selective thinning and planting of trees and other vegetation. Such plantings were often designed to create picturesque views opening onto broad vistas. 66 Additional design elements included gently curving pathways and winding drives that gradually ascended to the cemetery’s uppermost elevations. Monuments and gravestones were of various shapes and sizes with large markers and mausoleums serving to confirm their owners’ social status; the most prominent of these were often located at the site’s most idyllic locations, such as those providing scenic vistas. 67 Because rural cemeteries were almost always secular and lacked the adjacent church building to house necessary records, tools, and maps, most featured any combination of gatehouse or office building, tool shed, and caretaker’s residence. 68 Generally designed by professional landscape architects and gardeners, these rural cemeteries were crafted to provide a sense of sanctuary, solitude, beauty, and repose. Such cemeteries were meant to be spiritually uplifting – a marked contrast from the somber austerity of traditional churchyards. In this way, the new type of cemetery was designed as much for the living as for the dead, and it is not surprising that early rural cemeteries soon became favorite destinations for picnics and family excursions. Not coincidentally, this period also marked a shift away from the terms “graveyard” and “burial ground” to the more genial “cemetery.” 69 Established before the development of large public parks, rural cemeteries provided a city’s residents with the opportunity to engage with nature in well maintained, park-like settings. In fact, in many cities that boasted such a landscape, “a visit to the local cemetery was considered de rigueur for the tourist.” 70 64 Smith, The Rural Cemetery Movement, 3. 65 National Register of Historic Places, Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, National Register #80000166. 66 Elisabeth Walton Potter and Beth M. Boland, “Guidelines for Evaluating and Registering Cemeteries and Burial Places,” National Register Bulletin 41 (U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1993). 67 Smith, The Rural Cemetery Movement, 118. 68 Smith, The Rural Cemetery Movement, 56. 69 Stanley French, “The Cemetery as Cultural Institution: The Establishment of Mount Auburn and the ‘Rural Cemetery’ Movement,” American Quarterly. Vol. 26, No. 1. (March 1974), 38. 70 Bender, “The ‘Rural’ Cemetery Movement,” 196. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 31 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Due, in part, to the popularity of early rural cemeteries as public recreational grounds, cities began developing public parks for this purpose, spurring the nineteenth-century urban parks movement as well as the designs of the Romantic garden suburbs of Llewellyn Park in New Jersey (planned by Alexander Jackson Davis in 1852) and Riverside, Illinois (planned by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmstead in 1869). 71 With new natural spaces designed exclusively for public recreation, the cemetery as a recreational destination began to lose its appeal. Beginning in the last years of the nineteenth century, designs for both cemeteries and parks moved away from the naturalistic toward more the formal landscape planning popularized by the “City Beautiful” movement which emphasized monumental grandeur and well-ordered landscapes.72 Funerary Art in the United States Prior to the mid-seventeenth century, burials of European settlers in what would become the United States were typically marked with plain stones or stones inscribed with a minimal amount of information such as the name and birth/death dates of the deceased. By the mid- seventeenth century, however, grave markers began to take the shape of upright stone tablets, many of which began to incorporate a limited range of symbology associated with death and mortality (such as skulls, bones, and coffins, known collectively as “memento mori”). During the same period, inscriptions on grave markers generally reinforced the view of death as “a biological endpoint” (i.e., “here lies the body of John Smith”). 73 However, by the eighteenth century, funerary imagery turned away from direct depictions of death toward more symbolic and spiritual imagery. As a result, grave markers began to feature more serene representations of angels, cherubs, or more abstract motifs (such as the urn-and-willow – a recognized symbol of mourning and rebirth); at the same time, personalized memorial epitaphs became increasingly common. 74 Beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, public interest in funerary art increased along with the rise of the Rural Cemetery Movement. In contrast with crowded, urban churchyards, so-called “rural” cemeteries offered spacious lots that were often purchased by families well in advance of need. As a result, funerary art became seen as a way for cemetery lot holders to contribute to the beautification of rural cemeteries’ park-like landscapes, as well as a means of prominently displaying their own wealth and influence. The years between the mid-nineteenth century and about 1930 are generally regarded as the peak period of American cemetery art. The most popular styles incorporated into the designs of cemetery markers and 71 Bender, “The ‘Rural’ Cemetery Movement,” 210. 72 Elisabeth Walton Potter and Beth M. Boland, “Guidelines for Evaluating and Registering Cemeteries and Burial Places,” National Register Bulletin 41 (U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1993). 73 Joanna Wilson Green, “Evolution of Funerary Symbolism,” Virginia Department of Historic Resources, https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/cemetery-newsletter-content/the-evolution-of-funerary-symbolism-or-whats-with- all-the-willow-trees/ (accessed March 23, 2026). 74 Joanna Wilson Green, “Evolution of Funerary Symbolism,” Virginia Department of Historic Resources, https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/cemetery-newsletter-content/the-evolution-of-funerary-symbolism-or-whats-with- all-the-willow-trees/ (accessed March 23, 2026). United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 32 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin monuments during this period included the Classical Revival style, the Gothic Revival style, and the Egyptian Revival style. At Forest Hill, these trends are reflected in the Classical Revival designs of the McAlpine, Lockwood, Carson, Dulany, and Ellison mausoleums (and countless other smaller grave markers that incorporate various classical motifs); the Late Gothic Revival style of the Putnam Memorial Chapel and the Koch and Rydell mausoleums; and the Egyptian Revival influence displayed by various small and mid-sized obelisk monuments. In addition, certain symbolic forms and figures became especially common in cemeteries between the mid-nineteenth century and the early twentieth century; these include the urn (a traditional symbol of death), the scroll (representing the unfolding afterlife or, when blank, representing a life cut short), the anchor (a symbol of hope), clasped hands (representing matrimony, earthly farewell, or heavenly welcome), the willow (a Christian symbol of immortality), drapery (a symbol of sorrow and mourning and frequently used in conjunction with an urn); and the lamb (a symbol of innocence that was frequently used at the graves of children). Forest Hill Cemetery includes examples of each of these. During the same period, the Victorian interest in floriography – the “language of flowers” – resulted in grave markers with carved or inscribed flowers and plants that symbolized particular sentiments, as seen in numerous grave markers at Forest Hill. Similarly, an interest in representations of the natural world during the late nineteenth century led to the popularity of grave markers sculpted to resemble tree trunks, several examples of which are located in Forest Hill’s oldest sections; known as “treestones,” these grave markers reflect their natural surroundings and often represented a life cut short (see Photo 11). Finally, and not uncommon even in secular cemeteries like Forest Hill, are those grave markers and monuments that incorporate religious iconography; numerous examples of these are present at Forest Hill, including small crosses and other symbols incorporated into individual grave markers as well as larger free-standing cross-shaped markers. By the 1930s and through the years after World War II, public tastes in funerary art became more modest and utilitarian, and many cemeteries began to promote the use of flat markers which allowed for open lawns and easy maintenance. However, even modest gravestones and flat markers continued to display restrained floral motifs, religious symbols, and personal signifiers (such as fraternal society emblems). Sections of Forest Hill that were opened for burials during this period (such as Sections I, J, and K) typically display more modest and restrained grave markers than those in the older parts of the cemetery. Charles H. Ramsdell Charles H. Ramsdell was born in West Newton, Massachusetts in 1879 to Henry and Harriet Ramsdell. After completing high school, Ramsdell found work in the Boston offices of landscape architect Warren Manning where he became a skilled draftsman, eventually serving as the firm’s western representative based in Minneapolis. Ramsdell married Louise Atchinson in December 1905 and formally left Manning’s office in 1911 to begin his own practice in United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 33 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Minneapolis.75 Working largely in the upper Midwest, Ramsdell was a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and designed a number of public parks, gardens, cemeteries, and municipal grounds in Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, Montana, and Wisconsin. During World War I, Ramsdell designed housing projects for the United States Corporation and worked in a similar capacity on government projects during World War II. In 1929, Ramsdell was selected as one of several professionals to serve on a government commission responsible for surveying and adjusting the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park to better align with the area’s natural terrain. 76 Ramsdell maintained his Minneapolis-based practice until the time of his death in September 1957. Comparative Analysis In addition to Forest Hill, the City of Eau Claire operates one other municipal cemetery: Lakeview Cemetery at 1500 Buffington Drive. The city also contains five other cemeteries that historically and currently functioned as religious denominational cemeteries. Four of these are located on adjacent lots along the north side of Omaha Street, giving the appearance of a single entity: Bnai Brith Jewish Cemetery at 1736 Omaha Street, Northside Lutheran Cemetery at 1720-1822 Omaha Street (formerly separate Scandinavian, German, Norwegian Lutheran cemeteries), St. Patrick’s Irish Catholic Cemetery at 1930 Omaha Street, and Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery at 2020 Omaha Street. The city’s other denominational cemetery is Calvary Catholic Cemetery at 4100 South Hastings Way. Finally, Eau Claire also contains a small cemetery plot at the northwest corner of Mesa Ridge Drive and West Ridge Drive that was historically associated with the Eau Claire County asylum and poor farm. With the exception of Lake View Cemetery, none of the city’s other cemeteries is comparable to Forest Hill as all of these are relatively small in size, consist of flat landscapes that lack topographical variety, and feature mostly linear drives and burial plot arrangements. In addition, as cemeteries associated with religious congregations or other institutions, these properties were not constructed to serve as public park-like burial grounds in keeping with the mission of the Rural Cemetery Movement. For these reasons, none of the city’s religious or institutional cemeteries is considered to be an appropriate comparison with Forest Hill Cemetery. Lakeview Cemetery, Eau Claire’s only other municipal cemetery, was established by the unincorporated community of West Eau Claire in 1867. When Eau Claire was incorporated as a city in 1872, Lakeview became one of the city’s two municipal cemeteries (along with Forest Hill). The property covers approximately 46 acres at the western edge of Half Moon Lake, approximately 1.6 miles west of Forest Hill Cemetery on the opposite side of the Chippewa River. While the western half of Lakeview Cemetery features a distinct network of curving pathways, the drives in the earlier, eastern half are laid out in a simple, linear grid. Historic aerial photos suggest that the landscape design of the more naturalistic western portion of the cemetery was executed in the 1930s, likely following recommendations by Charles Ramsdell 75 “Mr. Charles H. Ramsdell, landscape designer, announces…,” Minneapolis Journal, January 1, 1911. 76 “United States Housing Corporation: Landscape Architects and Planners,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, https://web.mit.edu/ebj/www/ww1/Biography-Ramsdell.html (accessed March 23, 2026). United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 34 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin who advised the city on various park and cemetery plans during this period (including plans for Forest Hill Cemetery). The existing James Stephen Hoover and Elizabeth Borland Memorial Chapel was constructed at Lakeview Cemetery in 1936; this building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 under Criterion C for its Late Gothic Revival style. Unlike Forest Hill where the Putnam Memorial Chapel sits near the center of the cemetery, the chapel at Lakeview is located towards the edge of the property and is not surrounded by burial plots. Lakeview Cemetery contains numerous mature trees and other plantings, as well as a buffer of dense woodland along portions of its borders so that it possesses a somewhat secluded aesthetic that is characteristic of the Rural Cemetery Movement. However, its landscape is largely flat and lacks the topographic variety of Forest Hill Cemetery. In addition, Lakeview Cemetery also lacks the numerous private mausoleums and hillside crypts found at Forest Hill. In comparison, Forest Hill Cemetery features a more varied landscape due to its hillside location, a more cohesive landscape plan with winding pathways throughout the grounds (rather than in one isolated section), and a greater sense that the cemetery was designed to harmonize with the natural environment with terraces, burial crypts, monuments, and pathways that incorporate the site’s steep, hillside topography. For these reasons, Forest Hill Cemetery is considered to be a better representative of the Rural Cemetery Movement than Lakeview Cemetery. Within a wider geographic context, there are currently 22 cemeteries in Wisconsin that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Of these, only four are individually listed as distinct representatives of the Rural Cemetery Movement: Oak Grove Cemetery in La Crosse (designed by local surveyors in 1878), Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee (designed by Increase A. Lapham in 1850), Evergreen Cemetery in Menomonie (designed by Cleveland and French in 1874), and Oak Hill Cemetery in Lake Geneva (designed in 1880, unattributed). Riverside Cemetery in Oshkosh (established in 1855) is also listed in the National Register, not as a distinct representative of the Rural Cemetery Movement, but simply as a site that “embodies the distinctive characteristics of a cemetery landscape of the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries,” including an isolated section that exhibits the Rural Cemetery Movement aesthetic. 77 Both in its landscape design and in its high degree of integrity, Forest Hill Cemetery compares favorably with Oak Grove, Forest Home, Evergreen, Oak Hill, and Riverside Cemeteries. All five National Register listed cemeteries, like Forest Hill, feature the curvilinear pathways and naturalistic landscaping associated with the nineteenth-century Rural Cemetery Movement. However, the original settings of both Forest Home and Evergreen Cemeteries have been subsequently altered. Originally sited at what was, in 1850, the far western edge of Milwaukee, Forest Home Cemetery is now completely surrounded by dense residential and commercial development, diminishing the property’s integrity of setting (although the original landscape design remains intact, albeit expanded greatly between 1850 and 1880). Evergreen Cemetery 77 National Register of Historic Places, Riverside Cemetery, Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wisconsin, National Register #03000578. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 35 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin has also experienced alterations to its historic setting due to the 1955 construction of a new dam on Lake Menomin which significantly raised the water level, inundating one of the cemetery’s access roads, significantly diminishing its original acreage, and effectively turning the cemetery into an island. 78 Of all of the state’s National Register listed cemeteries, Lake Geneva’s Oak Hill Cemetery and La Crosse’s Oak Grove Cemetery are most comparable to Forest Hill Cemetery in terms of their overall setting, age, appearance, size, and integrity. The 40-acre Oak Hill Cemetery in Lake Geneva retains a high degree of integrity and is a complete representative of the Rural Cemetery Movement with no alternative or later design trends present within its boundaries (the portions of the cemetery that were developed in the twentieth century are in keeping with the original naturalistic aesthetic of the site). Similarly, the 55 acres in La Crosse that constitute Oak Grove Cemetery are fully representative of the Rural Cemetery Movement with all areas within the cemetery boundaries – including those that were platted in the twentieth century – conforming to the site’s original design. Both cemeteries feature curving, meandering pathways; rolling topography; and relatively dense, informal plantings of trees and shrubs. In addition, both cemeteries feature a wide range of grave markers, monuments, and family mausoleums, although Oak Grove Cemetery is further characterized by its centrally-located 1912 community mausoleum. Both Oak Hill Cemetery and Oak Grove Cemetery were originally sited at the outer edges of the cities they were meant to serve – a key attribute of cemeteries designed in the Rural Cemetery fashion. Although Oak Hill Cemetery has remained on the outskirts of Lake Geneva (partially due to the relatively restrained growth of Lake Geneva), Oak Grove Cemetery is now centrally located within La Crosse (due largely to the annexation of the former village of North La Crosse), but its location at the edge of the La Crosse Marsh has prevented encroaching development from surrounding the cemetery so that it retains much of its “edge-of-town” feel. Forest Hill Cemetery compares favorably with Oak Grove Cemetery and Oak Hill Cemetery with a similar combination of Rural Cemetery Movement characteristics. These include its rolling topography, its wooded landscape, its network of non-linear pathways, and its eclectic collection of burial markers, monuments, and mausoleums (including those designed to harmonize with the natural setting). For the same reasons, Forest Hill Cemetery is the best representative of the Rural Cemetery Movement in the city of Eau Claire. Concluding Statement of Significance The landscape design of Forest Hill Cemetery was executed between about 1872 and 1939 and is highly representative of the Rural Cemetery Movement. The so-called “rural” cemeteries constructed as part of this movement were characterized by networks of meandering and interconnected pathways, naturalistic landscapes with a variety of trees and other plantings, and a rolling topography that often rose to create dramatic vistas across the landscape. Forest 78 National Register of Historic Places, Evergreen Cemetery, Menomonie, Dunn County, Wisconsin, National Register #06001117. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Section 8 page 36 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Hill Cemetery displays all of these key features, as well as a wide variety of grave markers, crypts, mausoleums, and monuments representing evolving funerary trends beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. Because of its local significance within the history of landscape architecture, Forest Hill Cemetery is eligible for National Register listing under Criterion C. Land Acknowledgement (Will be reviewed by the Office of the State Archaeologist) This nomination recognizes the depth of human presence here, the ancestral homeland of American Indians for millennia. From as early as the seventeenth century, Euro-American exploration and settlement, military campaigns, and government programs, all had the effect of repeated displacement of Indians of many tribal affiliations. This continuous tribal movement resulted in Wisconsin being home to many tribes who originated from other parts of the country, generating a pattern of immigration, relocation, and formation of a new homeland. Some of these tribes remain in Wisconsin but others may not. We acknowledge that the property that is the subject of this nomination is located on land long occupied by American Indians. Archaeological Potential (Will be drafted and reviewed by the Office of the State Archaeologist) Preservation Activities Forest Hill Cemetery was evaluated as potentially eligible for the NRHP during a survey of Eau Claire conducted in 2016. Eligibility was re-affirmed prior to the writing of this nomination. As a partner with the Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and the National Park Service (NPS) participating in the Certified Local Government (CLG) program, the City of Eau Claire is required to maintain a system to survey and inventory historic properties. That entails regular surveys with updates every 20-25 years to identify properties that appear potentially eligible for the NRHP. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 37 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin ______________________________________________________________________________ 9. Major Bibliographical References Bibliography “40 Years Ago.” Eau Claire Daily Telegram. April 28, 1962. “Arrangement of Cemetery Plat Studied.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. January 19, 1933. Bailey, William F. History of Eau Claire County, Wisconsin. Chicago: C.F. Cooper & Co., 1914. Bender, Thomas. “The ‘Rural’ Cemetery Movement: Urban Travail and the Appeal of Nature.” The New England Quarterly, Vol. 47, No.2 (June, 1974). “Campus History.” University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. https://www.uwec.edu/about/campus- history. Accessed October 27, 2025. “C.C. Officials Make Reports at Yearly Meet.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. March 11, 1931. “The cemetery commission…” Eau Claire Free Press. September 13, 1889. “Cemetery Improvements.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. September 10, 1932. “Cemetery Work Approved for Work Relief.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. April 15, 1934. “Cemetery Work Nears Finish.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. June 14, 1930. “Century old Eau Claire mausoleum to be dismantled.” Pioneer Press. March 29, 2009. City News. Eau Claire Free Press. September 17, 1874. City News: Council Proceedings. Eau Claire Free Press. July 23, 1874. City News: Council Proceedings. Eau Claire Free Press. June 3, 1875. City News: Council Proceedings. Eau Claire Free Press. June 29, 1882. “City Widening Two Streets.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. February 3, 1931. “Contract for Moving Mound is Let by City.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. May 22, 1930. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 38 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin “Council Acts of Affairs of Minor Import.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. March 21, 1930. “Curbing, Walls Removed from Lots in Cemeteries.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. August 19, 1934. “De Profundis.” Eau Claire Free Press. July 31, 1873. “Development of Cemetery Site Shows Results.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. November 23, 1930. “The east side cemetery…” Eau Claire Free Press. July 18, 1872. Eau Claire County Aerial Photo Collection, 1939-2022. Robinson Map Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI. “For Beautifying the Cemeteries.” Eau Claire Leader. May 15, 1909. “Forest Hill Development Plans Ready.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. January 31, 1930. “Forest Hill Cemetery Marks an Improvement.” Eau Claire Leader. August 13, 1909. French, Stanley. “The Cemetery as Cultural Institution: The Establishment of Mount Auburn and the ‘Rural Cemetery’ Movement.” American Quarterly. Vol. 26, No. 1. (March 1974). “Funeral of Early Citizen.” Eau Claire Leader. March 12, 1907. “Gate House to be Built at Cemetery.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. April 17, 1931. “Gift from Late Mrs. Putnam.” Eau Claire Leader. August 6, 1908. Gough, Robert J. and Gergory Kocken, Rest in Nature: A Guide to Eau Claire’s Forest Hill Cemetery. Eau Claire, WI: Chippewa Valley Museum Press, 2022. Green, Joanna Wilson. “Evolution of Funerary Symbolism.” Virginia Department of Historic Resources. https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/cemetery-newsletter-content/the-evolution-of- funerary-symbolism-or-whats-with-all-the-willow-trees/. Accessed March 23, 2026. “Improvements at Carson Park are Started by City.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. April 23, 1938. “Improvements at Cemetery Near Finish.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. September 24, 1932. Keister, Douglas. Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography. Salt United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 39 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2004. “Key Industries.” City of Eau Claire Economic Development. https://eauclairedevelopment.com/profile/key-industries/. Accessed October 27, 2025. Map of Eau Claire. Milwaukee, WI: Phoenix Map Company, 1875. Map of Eau Claire County. Milwaukee, WI: Snyder, Van Vechten & Co., 1877. “A Marble Mausoleum.” Eau Claire Leader. July 2, 1913. “May Build a Vault.” Eau Claire Leader. June 5, 1896. “Mr. Charles H. Ramsdell, landscape designer, announces…” Minneapolis Journal. January 1, 1911. National Register of Historic Places. Evergreen Cemetery. Menomonie, Dunn County, Wisconsin. National Register #06001117. National Register of Historic Places. Forest Home Cemetery. Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. National Register #80000166. National Register of Historic Places. Losey Memorial Arch. La Crosse, La Crosse County, Wisconsin. National Register #02000598. National Register of Historic Places. Riverside Cemetery. Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wisconsin. National Register #03000578. “New Road in Forest Hill Cemetery.” Eau Claire Telegram. May 24, 1904. “A New Vault in Forest Hill.” Eau Claire Telegram. December 4, 1902. “Notice to Contractors.” Eau Claire Leader. August 11, 1897. “Parks of Eau Claire.” Eau Claire Telegram. December 6, 1905. “Passing of Mr. Marston.” Eau Claire Leader. July 9, 1898. “Petitions Heard by City Council.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. January 18, 1940. “Pine Transplants Received by City.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. May 8, 1930. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 40 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Potter, Elisabeth Walton and Beth M. Boland. “Guidelines for Evaluating and Registering Cemeteries and Burial Places.” National Register Bulletin 41, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1993. “Reinforced Concrete Retaining Wall at Forest Hill Cemetery.” Eau Claire Daily Telegram. August 14, 1959. “Series of Drives Included in Cemetery Development Project at Forest Hill.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. February 1, 1930. Smith, Jeffrey. The Rural Cemetery Movement: Places of Paradox in Nineteenth-Century America. New York: Lexington Books, 2017. Smith, John Jay. Designs for Monuments and Mural Tablets: Adapted to Rural Cemeteries, Church Yards, Churches, and Chapels. New York: Bartlett & Welford, 1846. Standard Atlas of Eau Claire County, Wisconsin. Chicago: George A. Ogle & Co., 1910. “Steps should be taken…” Eau Claire Free Press. April 29, 1894. “Trees Purchased for Cemetery.” Eau Claire Leader Telegram. April 20, 1933. “Two New Vaults.” Eau Claire Leader. September 20, 1898. Uniroyal, Inc. Records: 1917-1990. Finding aid. University of Wisconsin Digital Collections. https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-ec00cb. Accessed October 27, 2025. “United States Housing Corporation: Landscape Architects and Planners.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://web.mit.edu/ebj/www/ww1/Biography-Ramsdell.html. Accessed March 23, 2026. Wyatt, Barbara, ed. Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin. Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1986. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 41 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin ___________________________________________________________________________ Previous documentation on file (NPS): ____ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested ____ previously listed in the National Register ____ previously determined eligible by the National Register ____ designated a National Historic Landmark ____ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey #____________ ____ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # __________ ____ recorded by Historic American Landscape Survey # ___________ Primary location of additional data: __X_ State Historic Preservation Office ____ Other State agency ____ Federal agency ____ Local government ____ University ____ Other Name of repository: _____________________________________ Historic Resources Survey Number (if assigned): ________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property _______________ Latitude/Longitude Coordinates Datum if other than WGS84:__________ 1. Latitude: Longitude: 2. Latitude: Longitude: 3. Latitude: Longitude: 4. Latitude: Longitude: Or See resource inventory table 33 acres United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 42 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin UTM References Datum (indicated on USGS map): NAD 1927 or NAD 1983 1. Zone: 15N Easting: 619287 Northing: 4962851 2. Zone: 15N Easting: 619516 Northing: 4963007 3. Zone: 15N Easting: 619899 Northing: 4962469 4. Zone: 15N Easting: 619867 Northing: 4962418 5. Zone: 15N Easting: 619513 Northing: 4962645 6. Zone: 15N Easting: 619451 Northing: 4962607 Verbal Boundary Description The property’s National Register boundary is an irregular polygon that includes approximately 33 acres of land designated by the City of Eau Claire as Forest Hill Cemetery. The boundary encompasses all of the property’s 15 contributing resources, the National Register listed Putnam Memorial Chapel, and the land historically associated with the cemetery during its period of significance. Beginning at the northwest corner of the property, the boundary runs northeast along the Emery Street fence line for approximately 915 feet; from there, the boundary runs southeast along the western curbline of Huebsch Boulevard for approximately 2,165 feet; at that point, the boundary runs southwest for approximately 200 feet along the southern edge of the cemetery parking lot and associated fence line; from there, the boundary runs northwest for approximately 1,420 feet, following the curving tree line that divides the southern edge of the cemetery from the wooded hill that rises above Harding Avenue; at that point, the boundary runs southwest for approximately 200 feet along then northwest for approximately 960 feet along the Dodge Street fence line to the point of beginning. Boundary Justification The National Register boundary was delineated to encompass the entirety of the area that historically functioned as Forest Hill Cemetery and includes all of the property’s contributing resources and associated landscape features. The National Register boundary does not coincide with the property’s existing or historic tax parcel as the city-owned tax parcel within which the cemetery is located is larger than the area historically and currently X United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 43 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin utilized as a public cemetery; the area within the tax parcel that is excluded from the boundary is the densely wooded hill above Harding Avenue that extends north along Chauncey Street. Although it serves as an important element of the property’s setting, the hill was not historically utilized for burials (due to its steep topography) and contains no designed landscape features or built resources. The portion of the hill near Chauncey Street has been a popular location for sledding and skiing throughout the property’s history, and the City of Eau Claire plans to enhance the recreational use of the Harding Avenue hill through the construction of trails and a raised overlook, along with a habitat restoration plan. With the exception of the southern National Register boundary that runs along the tree line at the base of the hill, the northern, western, and eastern National Register boundaries coincide with the cemetery’s existing property lines. A building that serves as the cemetery’s utility shed and office is located across Emery Street from the cemetery’s main entrance; although the earliest cemetery office/utility building was constructed at this location in 1931, this structure was replaced with the existing building in 1974. Because it is physically separated from the cemetery by a city street and because it was constructed outside of the property’s period of significance, the cemetery office is not included in the property’s National Register boundary. ______________________________________________________________________________ 11. Form Prepared By name/title: __________________________________________________________ organization: ________________________________________________________ street & number: _____________________________________________________ city or town: _________________________ state: ____________ zip code:___________ e-mail________________________________ telephone:_________________________ date:_____________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Additional Documentation Figure Log Figure 1: Sketch map of Forest Hill Cemetery, October 2025. Figure 2: Photo key, October 2025. Figure 3: Extent of Forest Hill Cemetery as depicted in Map of Eau Claire County, 1877. Figure 4: Extent of Forest Hill Cemetery as depicted in Standard Atlas of Eau Claire County, 1910. Figure 5: Historic photo of cemetery grounds, looking toward Hillside Drive retaining wall, 1925 (Chippewa Valley Museum). Gail Klein, Architectural Historian University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Cultural Resource Management PO Box 413 Milwaukee Wisconsin 53201 grklein@uwm.edu 414-251-6772 March 31, 2026 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 44 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Figure 6: Historic photo of cemetery grounds, looking toward Emery Street, 1925 (Chippewa Valley Museum). Figure 7: Historic aerial photo, May 1939 (Arthur H. Robinson Map Library, UW-Madison). Figure 8: Historic cemetery plat map, 1944 (City of Eau Claire). Figure 9: USGS map showing location of Forest Hill Cemetery, March 2026. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 45 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Figure 1: Sketch map of Forest Hill Cemetery, October 2025. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 46 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Figure 2: Photo key of Forest Hill Cemetery, October 2025. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 47 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Figure 3. Extent of Forest Hill Cemetery as depicted in Map of Eau Claire County, 1877. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 48 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Figure 4. Extent of Forest Hill Cemetery as depicted in Standard Atlas of Eau Claire County, 1910. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 49 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Figure 5. Historic photo of cemetery grounds, looking toward Hillside Drive retaining wall, 1925 (Chippewa Valley Museum). Figure 6. Historic photo of cemetery grounds, looking toward Emery Street, 1925 (Chippewa Valley Museum). United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 50 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Figure 7. Historic aerial photo, May 1939 (Arthur H. Robinson Map Library, UW-Madison). United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 51 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Figure 8. Historic cemetery plat map, 1944 (City of Eau Claire). United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 52 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Figure 9. USGS map showing location of Forest Hill Cemetery, March 2026. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 53 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Photographs Photo Log Name of Property: Forest Hill Cemetery City or Vicinity: Eau Claire County: Eau Claire County State: Wisconsin Photographer: Gail Klein Date Photographed: October 30, 2026 1 of 31: Entry piers and fencing at Emery Street entrance, looking southeast. 2 of 31: Northwest corner of cemetery, looking southeast. 3 of 31: Looking northwest from parking lot along Huebsch Boulevard. 4 of 31: South end of cemetery, looking south from parking lot. 5 of 31: Hill and retaining wall along terraced burials, looking west. 6 of 31: Looking south along West Circle Drive. 7 of 31: Looking northwest along upper Forest Hill Drive. 8 of 31: Looking north from Hillside Drive. 9 of 31: Looking southeast along Forest Hill Drive from Emery Street entrance. 10 of 31: Looking northwest along lower Forest Hill Drive. 11 of 31: Treestone and other burial markers in Section 33, looking east. 12 of 31: Looking southwest along path between Sections I and J. 13 of 31: Looking southwest across Section J. 14 of 31: Looking northwest along Hillside Drive. 15 of 31: Looking northwest along upper Forest Hill Drive between Sections I and L. 16 of 31: Putnam Memorial Chapel, looking east. 17 of 31: Ellison Mausoleum, looking south. 18 of 31: Dulany Mausoleum, looking east. 19 of 31: Carson Mausoleum, looking north. 20 of 31: Lockwood Mausoleum, looking north. 21 of 31: McAlpine Mausoleum, looking east. 22 of 31: Marston Crypt, looking southwest. 23 of 31: Hillside crypt, looking southwest. 24 of 31: Thompson Mausoleum, looking southwest. 25 of 31: Rydell Mausoleum, looking west. 26 of 31: Koch Mausoleum, looking west. 27 of 31: Retaining wall for nonextant hillside crypts, looking southwest. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 54 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin 28 of 31: Retaining wall for terraced burials, looking west. 29 of 31: Hillside Drive retaining wall, looking northwest. 30 of 31: Simpson flagpole monument, looking southeast. 31 of 31: Columbaria plaza, looking northeast. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for nominations to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing lis tings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C.460 et seq.). We may not conduct or sponsor and you are not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for each response using this form is estimated to be between the Tier 1 and Tier 4 levels with the estimate of the time for each tier as follows: Tier 1 – 60-100 hours Tier 2 – 120 hours Tier 3 – 230 hours Tier 4 – 280 hours The above estimates include time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and preparing and transmitting nominations. Send comments regarding these estimates or any other aspect of the requirement(s) to the Service Information Collection Clearance Officer, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Drive Fort Collins, CO 80525. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 55 Forest Hill Cemetery Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Property Owner name/title City of Eau Claire organization N/A date March 31, 2026 street & number 203 South Farwell Street phone (715) 839-4902 city or town Eau Claire state WI zip code 54701 If there are other interested parties that should be noticed, please provide in the tables below name/title organization date street & number phone city or town state WI zip code name/title organization date street & number phone city or town state WI zip code name/title organization date street & number phone city or town state WI zip code