The Garfield Memorial, perched on a high on a hill
overlooking Cleveland, Ohio, easily commands attention at the city’s massive
Lake View Cemetery.
I remember my own childhood fascination with Garfield, the
last president born in a log cabin, who served as president for less than a
year before an assassin cut him down at point-blank range in a busy Washington
D.C. train station.
In spite of Garfield’s short tenure as the nation’s
president, he has one of the most elaborate and impressive tributes I’ve seen
for any other commander-in-chief. The tower and turreted roof remind me of a
castle.
James A. Garfield was born in 1831 and lost his father,
Abram, when he was just two years old. The elder Garfield died of over exertion
fighting a fire that threatened the family’s home.
The Garfield family was very poor, but young James managed
to make enough money along the way and study at schools that included Geauga
Seminary and the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute in Hiram, Ohio. The later
school later became Hiram College, and Garfield returned there to become the
youngest president of the college at the age of 27.
Garfield was also a gifted orator and was the only president
ordained as a minister.
His difficult early life soon became a real political asset,
with Garfield becoming a Republican State Senator in 1859 while still president
at Hiram College. The devout Garfield ran as a Republican because of his strong
anti-slavery stance.
Garfield served the Union with distinction during the Civil
War. He earned credit for major Union victories like the Battle of Chickamuaga,
eventually becoming a general.
President Abraham Lincoln convinced to run for office, and the
popular military hero became a nominee for the United States Senate in 1880.
The Republican National Convention of 1880 threatened to
continue endlessly in a deadlock after 34 ballots. Support for Garfield as a
compromise candidate gathered steam as enthusiastic delegates voted for him.
Voters made Garfield president in March of 1881. Garfield
died in September of the same year, after the July shooting.
Lake View Cemetery placed the body in a temporary tomb while
the Garfield National Memorial Association formed to raise money for a proper
monument to the slain president. Their efforts drew $135,000, allowing the
association to begin construction and complete the memorial by 1890.
Architect George W. Keller designed the Romanesque
revival-style building, which earned a spot on the National Register of
Historic Places in 1973.
The basement crypt houses coffins containing the remains of
Garfield and his wife Lucretia, along with urns containing the ashes of
the couple’s daughter Molly Garfield Stanley-Brown and her husband Joseph Stanley-Brown. The
arrangement is a little bit unusual because the caskets are in the open,
suggesting a perpetual visitation or laying in state.
I particularly enjoyed checking out the architectural
details in the building’s main-floor Memorial Hall.
A larger-than-life marble statue of Garfield dominates the
hall. The dim interior lighting makes taking photos of the architectural
details like stained glass windows, gold-and-stone mosaic tile frescoes, and
marble columns a little difficult to photograph, but make sure you go inside to
check them out and stop by the small gift store to pick up the pamphlet
cemetery’s pamphlet, “The James A. Garfield Monument at Lake View Cemetery”, to
learn more about the building.
The building, made of native Ohio sandstone, is 180 feet
tall and sits at the cemetery’s highest point. A second-story observation deck
opens to a panoramic view of the east side of downtown Cleveland and Lake Erie.
Five bas-relief panels high on the building’s exterior walls
depict scenes from Garfield’s life as a teacher, soldier, legislator,
president, and martyred president.
For visitors spending at least a few hours at Lake View
Cemetery taking photos, finding graves of the famous, and checking out some of
the other architectural gems, the Garfield Memorial makes a good stop late in
the trip if the building is open because there are picnic tables on the
building grounds and restrooms in the basement.
The Garfield Memorial opens daily 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. from April
1 through November 19.
Readers interested in learning more may enjoy reading the Garfield biography, Dark Horse: The Surprise
Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield.
© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved