It is not the most enjoyable item to think about, but have you thought about where you or your loved one will rest when that time has come?
Learn more about securing a burial lot and what it includes by clicking the following link
City of Ottumwa Cemeteries Lot Information
Learn more about our newer columbarium option by clicking this link.
City of Ottumwa Cemeteries Columbarium Information
Remember to follow our gravesite decorations regulations when adorning your loved ones' resting place.
Click below to review our rules and regulations for gravesite decorations.
Gravesite Decorations Regulations
Are you curious how you can help the City of Ottumwa Cemeteries continue to look great and serve the public?
Learn about how you can donate to the City of Ottumwa Cemeteries by clicking on the link below.
City of Ottumwa Cemeteries Donation Information
As you prepare for the holiday season, we are once again offering evergreen wreaths for placement at the Ottumwa, Calvary, and Ottumwa Jewish cemetaries.
To place your order, please contact the cemetery office at (641) 683-0687, ottcemetery@ottumwa.us, or stop by the office at 1302 N. Court Street.
Click Here for More Information! (Link to the attached PDF of our letter & order form).
Please call the office at (641) 683-0687 to schedule an appointment to discuss the purchase of a lot or columbarium space. Staff will have available suitable plats showing size, price, and location of lots. We accept electronic transactions.
Finding the gravesite of a loved one can sometimes be frustrating. Visual landmarks like trees are always changing and can make a special visit turn into a wild goose chase. Cemetery visitors are welcomed at the office to help locate the graves of their ancestors. Please stop in and we will assist you.
Our cemeteries are cleaned of decorations twice a year. The spring clean up generally begins the first week of March. New memorials are allowed to be placed after April 1st. The fall clean up usually begins the first week in October. Following this, winter memorials may be placed after November 1st. Families that wish to keep any tributes or memorial decorations need to remove those items from the cemetery prior to the seasonal date. If a shepherd's crook is used to hang an arrangement, families may leave the shepherd's crook, but please remove the arrangement. Cemetery personnel will remove all floral tributes, decorations and wreaths remaining after that date.
Memorial Day is a special time for families to visit and honor their departed loved ones. Cemetery Staff have a special welcoming tent at Ottumwa Cemetery and are on hand to help visitors locate graves and provide assistance to cemetery visitors. If you have a question about locating a grave in the Ottumwa, Calvary or Jewish Cemetery, please ask.
A final resting place for many citizens from Ottumwa’s past – a magnificent arboretum housing trees and shrubs planted through the city’s history – Ottumwa Cemetery is itself an important piece of Ottumwa’s story, Established in 1857, after the town’s original cemetery proved too small and too close to the center of the growing community, Ottumwa Cemetery was part of the rural cemetery movement, which was begun in the 1830s. In contrast to traditional church or family cemeteries, the rural cemetery was placed in the outskirts of town on a hillside or hilltop with a view of the town. It was planned to be more than a burial space; it was to be a romantic landscape of hills and valleys, trees and winding roads that satisfied the public’s need for green and open space. Ottumwa Cemetery’s original 10 acres was plotted in grids of lots among the meandering hillside roads. Although individual or paired lots were the custom, several large family plots—decorated with marble monuments and fencing—developed.
Throughout the early years of the cemetery, however, very few beautification projects to create the desired park-like setting were completed. Toward the end of the century, as Ottumwa Cemetery grew in size and importance to the community, its Board of Trustees began a series of projects that changed the face of the cemetery.
In 1887, a receiving vault of such ornamental and substantial character as to be a credit to the cemetery was erected. The receiving vault, built of deep red brick and terra cotta panels in a High Victorian Gothic design, was needed because the severe Iowa winters would often prevent the digging of graves for several months.
Next, a romantic design wrought iron fence was built along Court Street, the main thorough fare leading up the hill from Ottumwa’s business district, so that Ottumwa Cemetery could present a formal front to the town. The keystone to the cemetery’s entrance, Edgerly Gateway, was the next improvement. The fund to build the gateway and its adjacent office/chapel was begun with a bequest by Ottumwa businessman John W. Edgerly upon his death in 1894. Over the next 10 years, the projects – designed by local architect George Kearns and build of Bedford limestone—were constructed at the southwest corner of the cemetery. The gateway, in the classical form of a Roman triumphal arch and reflective of the City Beautiful movement – was completed in 1904. The office/chapel-completed in 1905-1906—is in a more romantic Gothic style with arched windows and a crenellated roofline. It is dedicated to the Union Soldiers and Sailors of the Civil War.
Learn more about the history and legends about the dog statue at Ottumwa Cemetery.
The Ottumwa, Calvary and Ottumwa Jewish Cemeteries accept donations and endowments for general maintenance and capital improvement projects. These thoughtful gifts are used to maintain the beauty and efficiency of the cemeteries. Donors may designate a use for gifts and every reasonable attempt will be made to comply with their wishes.
In the spring of 2010 the creation of an Infant Reflecting Garden in Calvary Cemetery and the installation of a water service in the Jewish Cemetery were made possible by recent donations.
If you have any questions or would like to make a donation, please contact the Cemetery Office, (641) 683-0687. Your donation is tax deductible in accordance with Internal Revenue service Code Section 170(c)1.
The Ottumwa Board of Cemetery Trustees thanks you for your generous gift.
