Oakgrove Cemetery, 2530 Kalamazoo Avenue, Grand Rapids MI

Oakgrove Cemetery was known as Paris Township Cemetery when it was first established. In the 1920s the land was annexed into Grand Rapids and it is currently the smallest public burial space in the city, and the second oldest cemetery (Fulton Street is the oldest).

Joel Guild was the first person to settle in Grand Rapids and he is here along with other members of his family. Three of his young children share a tombstone.

Joel's brother, Daniel, is also here with many family members. His daughter, Harriet, was the first person buried here, back in 1839. The graves of Daniel, his wife, Rhoda, and some of his children were legible although becoming grown over.

Daniel

Rhoda

Children:

Chester

Oliver

Wallace & Rhoda

One of the next three could be Harriet's but I couldn't clear them off enough to read them due to an active ground wasp nest.

Here are a few of the veterans interred here.

Henry Pylman, WWII

Orleans Spalding, Civil War

James Rosema, WWI

Arthur King, WWI

Albert Knack , Pv, Co. M 30 Infantry

John Keiser (1896-1938) Pvt, 383 Inf 96 Div (?)

George Wiersum WWII

Michael Robinson, Vietnam

Hiram Allen (1804-1890) was related to Ethan Allen and was a volunteer in the Black Hawk War, He served as a Justice of the Peace for 30 years in Paris Township.

Other miscellaneous graves:

Joseph Crandall's birth date is unknown but he died in 1874.

Two Longstreet markers.

The Ream family engraved their family records.

William Southerton 1822-1854

Lucretia Baar 1830-1855

Baby Nelson is not listed in FindAGrave but the marker is here.

The Jansma family has some very unique headstones, both of which point to each other.

There's also a baby Jansma stone, not in the FindAGrave database.

Since 2014, the city has been using this cemetery to bury unclaimed bodies, and there are over 300 of them currently here, all in unmarked graves in the same section (the names & locations are recorded in a book). The flowers on the ground are from a recent memorial service for these souls.

With its large grove of hardwood trees, the cemetery has a very park-like feel and is a beautiful place.

The official address is 1401 28th St SE but there is no access off 28th Street. The entrance is on Kalamazoo Avenue and you will have to wind your way past Jaycees park with multiple soccer fields.

Follow the road into the woods and you will find this unique little cemetery.