Greenlawn Cemetery Franklin, Indiana

Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.

Greenlawn Cemetery is eligible for the National Register based upon Criteria A and C. The cemetery embodies distinctive characteristics of cemetery design popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is also the burial place of several of Franklin's earliest and most influential residents, including George King, who was the founder and first proprietor of the City of Franklin. The areas of significance which apply to Greenlawn Cemetery include architecture, art, landscape architecture, and community planning. The platting and development of Greenlawn by the community is a significant illustration of Franklin's rise from pioneer village to county seat and market town.There are two contributing buildings on the premises which are architecturally significant in their own right. The first is a small brick chapel built in the Gothic Revival style in 1878, and the second is a Romanesque revival mausoleum built of rusticated Indiana limestone that was completed in 1911. There are numerous grave markers that are exemplary representations of Victorian-era funerary art, several of which exhibit superb craftsmanship and artistry. Many of these grave markers portray archetypal symbols and icons which were prevalent during this period. Finally, Greenlawn Cemetery typifies the lawn-park plan of cemetery landscape architecture, which was popularized by Adolph Strauch in the mid-19th century.