The largest cemetery in Indianapolis, and one of the largest in the country, celebrates a milestone.
Crown Hill Cemetery was founded 150 years ago. It is now the third-largest non-government cemetery in the U.S. at 555 acres.
“The commitment made by our original board of directors was to create a cemetery that could accommodate the community‘s needs for well over a century, which is where we are today,” said Keith Norwalk, the cemetery‘s president.
More than 200,000 people are now buried at Crown Hill, including one U.S. president, who lived out his years in Indy after moving to the city at the age of 21.
But Norwalk says the man most people ask about is legendary bank robber John Dillinger, who was buried in his hometown after he was killed by federal agents in Chicago in 1934.
Also among those buried at Crown Hill are Robert Irsay, the man who brought the Colts to Indianapolis from Baltimore, and poet James Whitcomb Riley, who is buried at the cemetery‘s highest point – it‘s also the highest point in Indianapolis.
The cemetery will give free public tours starting inside the front gate from 3:00pm until 5:00pm Sunday. Norwalk says a coffee table-size book on Crown Hill is in printing right now and is scheduled to be published in late October
