Oakland Cemetery, Shreveport Louisiana

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Oakland Cemetery is the oldest cemetery within the city of Shreveport, Louisiana, having been created by an ordinance adopted by the Mayor and Trustees of the Town of Shreveport, on July 20^th, 1849. This made the cemetery the official Town cemetery even though there had been burials there since 1840 shortly after the town was founded in 1839.

Here are buried many of the original settlers and figures prominent in the early history of Shreveport, including sixteen former mayors. Others include: Milton C. Elstner, first U. S. Attorney for this district; W. H. Sparke, a member of the legislature, who suggested that the parish be named for the Caddo Indians when the parish was created from part of Natchitoches Parish on January 18^th, 1838; George McWillie Williamson, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Guatemala during the administration of Grant and Hayes; Dr. Bartholomew Egan, the first president of the Northwestern Louisiana Medical Society, Chief Surgeon of state troops, C.S.A., on the staff of Governor Thomas Overton Moore, and one of thirteen men who met in Mt. Lebanon in 1847-48 to organize the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Mary D. C. Cane, who gave the land to the city of Shreveport to be used as a cemetery, was one of the first white women to settle in Shreveport, in January 1836, and in March of that year gave birth to the first white child born here. A monument to her was erected in Oakland Cemetery in 1906, given jointly by the city and parish.

Besides the historical attraction of Oakland Cemetery, it is one of the largest and most beautiful green areas in downtown Shreveport, consisting of approximately eight acres and containing many large trees. The cemetery is located downtown in the dense, old section of the city which is undergoing a renewal.

Oakland Cemetery is a significant landmark in the City of Shreveport, preserving as it does memorials of the earliest history of this modern North Louisiana city. Unlike the cemeteries of South Louisiana, Oakland has underground burials with sites marked by headstones or other monuments rather than the above ground burial vaults or mausoleums common to cemeteries in New Orleans and other south Louisiana areas. Oakland is an important open green space in a densely developed area of the city. Its numerous large specimen trees and shrubs, its masonry retaining walls, wrought iron gates and fences, its informal drives and gently rolling site combine to form a significant example of late nineteenth-century landscape design.

Site Description

Oakland Cemetery is a gently rolling wooded area of approximately eight acres. The elevation of both the higher and lower parts of the cemetery is accentuated by masonry retaining walls surrounding the entire tract. These walls, of various heights and types of masonry construction, have the appearance of a uniform rectangular cast-type stone veneered wall topped by a low ironwork fence. The majority of the walls and fences are in various degrees of deterioration ranging from tolerable to almost dangerous. The fence on the wall, and three gateways of ironwork with cast stone pilasters and stairs are sound but in need of reworking.

This irregularly shaped tract is surrounded by Milam, Sprague, Baker and Christian Streets. Obviously, these streets were constructed mainly in a cut surrounding the cemetery with the retaining walls constructed either partly or entirely during the construction period. No sequence of construction has been determined, however, 90 percent of the streets and walks are lower than the cemetery grade within the walls.

Inside the cemetery, the definable main roadways are gravel with other grass "cross access" roads to remote plots. Most of the trees are large hardwoods and magnolias shading 50 to 60 percent of the tract. These trees show the effects of little or no maintenance, yet could be placed in good condition with minimal work.

The condition of individual markers and fencework within the cemetery ranges from almost totally destroyed to good, from simple headstones to ornate monument work. Some examples of very fine iron and stone artistry remain in good repair, making the overall general appearance one that calls for care.

Among the interesting and significant examples of headstones and funerary sculpture in Oakland Cemetery is the headstone or slab over the grave of Rufus Sewall, brother of the first Mayor of Shreveport, who died in 1843. This is probably the oldest monument in the cemetery and is distinguished by the quality and variety of lettering types incised into the stone, examples of the forms of typography popular at the time. An unusual example of Victorian funerary sculpture is the monument marking the grave of an infant child of John L. Gooch, a former Mayor of Shreveport. Here a shell forms a canopy over the bed on which the infant lies as if sleeping. The monument dates from 1884. A large recording angel on a baroque pedestal forming the Chase monument of 1892 is another example of Victorian sculpture in the cemetery. Somewhat similar in character is the gracefully draped female figure, the 1891 monument marking the Nolan gravesite. Of unusual architectural interest are the three stone obelisks within an iron-fenced enclosure, the tall center one marking the grave of John N. Howell, fourth Mayor of Shreveport, who died in 1882. The design of each of these varied-sized obelisks is different, but all are similar in character and execution and are unusual examples of late Victorian design. A unique monument is the cast iron one of 1873 above the J. T. Sims grave. The design recalls the cast iron mummy case-like coffins of the mid-nineteenth century, and is in remarkably good condition.

Aerial view toward north (1974)

Main entrance, Milam St. looking northeast (1974)

Entrance, Sprague St. View toward south (1974)

Retaining wall and fence, Baker St. View toward northwest (1974)

Family lot and monument near the center of cemetery. View toward southwest (1974)

Typical family lots, near southwest corner (1974)

Monument in center is that of John N. Howell, died June 24, 1882; 4^th Mayor of Shreveport (1844-45) Monument cast bronze by Monumental Bronze Co. of Bridgeport, CT (1976)

Cast iron monument, J. T. Sims, died Feb. 5, 1873 (1976)

Slab monument, Rufus Sewall died June 20, 1842. Believed to be oldest grave in Oakland. Brother of first mayor. (1976)

Family lot of B. M. Johnson; deaths from 1873 to 1914. He was one of Shreveport's first bankers. (1976)

Slab monument, Lawrence P. Crain, died Jan. 28, 1859; 6^th mayor of Shreveport (1846-47) (1976)

Monument of Gooch infant, died Dec. 21, 1884. Father, John L. Gooch was 15^th mayor of Shreveport (1865-66) (1976)

Monument of Willaim Robert Douglass, died Nov. 10, 1853. Typical of condition of many of the monuments. (1976)

Hebrew Section. One acre purchased in 1859 by Hebrew Mutual Benevolent Assoc. This was second Jewish cemetery in La. (1976)

Monument of Helen Cline Chase, died July 22, 1892. (1976)

Monument of the Dawes Family, deaths in 1866 and 1888. Urns from top of columns shown on ground. (1976)

Monument of infant, Frank Campbell, died Sept, 7, 1865. (1976)

Monument of James V. Nolan, died July 27, 1891 (1976)