Mount Hope Cemetery (Watertown, South Dakota) Explained

Mount Hope Cemetery Mausoleum
Nearest City:	Watertown, South Dakota
Coordinates:	44.9164°N -97.0989°W
Architect:	South Dakota Mausoleum Corp.
Added:	13 August 1986
Refnum:	86001500

Mount Hope Cemetery is a municipal cemetery located at 11th Street East and 14th Avenue North, Watertown, South Dakota. Influenced by the 19th century rural cemetery movement, the 40-acres of land that would become the cemetery was purchased by the city from the Winona and St. Peter Railroad for $120. The earliest recorded burial was in 1881.^[1] As of April 2017, there have been about 12,300 interments at Mount Hope.

Mausoleum

The central mausoleum at Mount Hope Cemetery was built in 1911 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The mausoleum has 100 crypts. It is considered full, and casket burials are no longer performed. Around 2011, a receiving room was converted into a columbarium, with cinerary urns displayed behind glass for public viewing.

Notable interments

• John Banvard (1815–1891), painter^[2]
• Jake Krull (1938–2016), U.S. General and South Dakota state senator^[3]
• Henry Pease (1835–1907), U.S. Senator from Mississippi and South Dakota state senator

Notes and References

1. Office of the sexton, Tom Weeks.
2. Web site: The most famous man nobody knows is buried in Watertown . . 6 August 2023 . 3 May 2020.
3. Web site: In memory of Jacob J. "Jake" Krull. Wight & Comes Funeral Chapel. 1 December 2016.