Restlawn Cemetery
The City of Muskegon serves as caretaker for four cemeteries in the city, Evergreen, Lakeside, Oakwood, and Restlawn. The phone number is 231-724-6783.
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The description is Lot-Block-Range.
History
The site of Restlawn Cemetery on Irwin Avenue at Nims Street and opposite Oakwood Cemetery was the location of an industry that started development of the southeastern part of the city. The industry did not make lumber, but used large quantities of it. The firm was the Muskegon Car and Engine Company, organized and incorporated with $100,000 capital in 1881. The company purchased 25 acres of land and built a large two-story office building at the intersection of Irwin and Nims Streets.
The land now used in Oakwood and Restlawn Cemeteries was covered with a thick growth of timber. A. V. McMann, who owned the Oakwood and adjoining sites cut several million feet of lumber from there. The car company started to clear the land in April, 1881 when there was still three feet of snow on the ground.
The car company was in operation in July 1881 and the first completed car turned out August 1, 1881. During the years 1882-1884 the company prospered and the city was encouraged to try to get other lines of manufacturing here. In 1892, Hovey and McCracken purchased all the real estate, building, and machinery, but were unable to make it a paying investment and the plant remained closed until the summer of 1902 when buildings were torn down and material sold for salvage.
In 1911, Vulcanized Products built a factory on the site of the office of the first company at Irwin Avenue and that factory burned in the spring of 1912. In 1917 the Greenwood Cemetery Association located there and later it was purchased by a group of Muskegon men and named Restlawn. It was purchased by the City of Muskegon about 1940.
(Excerpts from “Know Muskegon” column by C. H. Yates, Muskegon Chronicle, September 26, 1959.)
This list is updated as of 2012.
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