Excerpted from Grandview Cemetery's A Remarkable Tribute to History brochure. Available at our office.
Maps
1- Unknown Plot for the Victims of the 1889 Johnstown Flood
This monument forms one of the more striking features of Grandview Cemetery. Dedicated on May 31, 1892, exactly three years after a devastating flood claimed 2,209 lives, and costing $6,500, the structure marks the graves of 777 victims not claimed or recognized after the disaster. More than ten thousand people attended the ceremony, including the governor and many prominent citizens of the Commonwealth. The State Flood Commission purchased the plot for the burial of the unknown flood victims. One thousand, two hundred and twenty two of the flood victims rest at Grandview.
2- Wagner Grave
Burial site of Lt. Col. Boyd "Buzz" Wagner, of Johnstown, the First American air ace of World War II.
3- Horner Statue
Private Gerald Horner, who lost his life in France during World War I, sent a photo of himself in full dress uniform to his mother. Following his death, she sent the photo to artisans in Italy, who fashioned the sculpture, based on his photo, for his gravesite.
4- GAR Memorial
The public, to honor Civil War veterans, paid for this 1897 Grand Army of the Republic monument found in the Soldier's Circle.
5- Morrell Circle
During the first public sale of lots on April 25, 1887, Mrs. Daniel J. Morrell indicated her willingness to purchase this large site for family burials. Her husband worked as the General Superintendent and later General Manger of the Cambria Iron Company, the predecessor of Bethlehem Steel. On April 17, 1935, Johnstown's first community-wide Easter Sunrise Service, held at the Morrell Circle, attracted 2,000 men, women and children. During more recent years, Westmont Borough has sponsored an annual Memorial Day service at the permanent stone rostrum adjoining the Morrell Circle.
6- First Interment
April 30, 1887 – Lucretia Hammond of Kernville, a downtown Johnstown Neighborhood.
7- Union Cemetery Marker
County officials directed the movement of this marker from the former Union Cemetery at Napoleon and Market Streets in Johnstown. The inscription states: "In memory of our early citizens buried in this grave yard whose monuments were destroyed by the Flood, May 31, 1889. Erected in Union Cemetery 1898…moved to present site 1949." The two stones in the foreground-relics of the old Portage Railroad mark the graves of George Lucas and Samuel Cole, soldiers of the Revolutionary War.