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Graceland sees rise in cremations

Cemetery Advisory Committee looks at trends

—Daily Freeman-Journal photo by Adri Sietstra The property pictured above is the site of the former Hamilton Hospital. The building was torn down after the new facility, Van Diest Medical Center, was opened in 2010. The Graceland Cemetery Advisory Committee members discussed how the property could be used for the cemetery, pending the sale to the city, for future use at their annual meeting Tuesday afternoon in the council chambers.

The Graceland Cemetery Advisory Committee Tuesday afternoon discussed trends and numbers for the cemetery spaces and the former hospital property located next to Graceland Cemetery.

“Craig (Biggs) has compiled, for the last several years, a statistical overview of the lot sales and interments,” said Kent Harfst, Webster City recreation and public grounds director.

“Numbers are down,” said Biggs, Webster City public grounds technician with Graceland Cemetery. “Cremation numbers are also higher.”

“A lot of people ask me how many people are buried out here, so years ago I counted them. It’s not completely accurate, but I would think it’s close,” said Biggs.

According to Biggs, there are an estimated 13,664 burials in Graceland Cemetery. Numbers are updated each month for accuracy.

The committee discussed the annual costs for Graceland Cemetery. For the 2017 year, a traditional lot space costs $740. A traditional interment totals $700.

“This will be the third year in a row that we have not increased our prices,” Biggs said.

The last price increase occurred in 2015 according to Harfst.

Biggs also informed the committee of how many lots are still available for sale at the cemetery.

“There’s been a lot of questions considering we just purchased the new area of the old hospital,” said Biggs. “I don’t know what the future holds but certainly we have 2,518 spaces that are available.”

This includes a total of 2,191 traditional lot spaces and 327 cremation lot spaces.

Biggs explained that the cemetery sells an average of 20 to 30 spaces per year. In 2016, 24 spaces were sold. Three of those were cremation spaces.

“There’s a long time before we’ll be needing any extra area,” he said. “There is certainly plenty of available space out there at this time.”

According to Biggs’ there are veterans buried in Graceland cemetery from the Vietnam War, Korea, World War II, World War I, the Civil War, Indian War, the War of 1812, and the war in Afghanistan. An estimated 1,502 veterans were laid to rest on the grounds.

“I just went through each section and counted each vet that was there and which war they were in,” Biggs said. “I’ve had this for awhile. It’s just some neat information for the history of the cemetery.”

Biggs also provided a breakdown of the trees that line the cemetery. Of the 767 trees, there are currently 48 ash trees still in the cemetery. According to Biggs, 25 of those are slated to be taken down this year due to the Emerald Ash Borer.

“Those are all marked and ready to go,” said Biggs.

The committee also discussed the Graceland Cemetery charges. With the addition of the pet cemetery in 2016, charges for the burial of pets was also discussed.

Harfst discussed the former hospital property the city will be purchasing for the cemetery’s use.

“The sale hasn’t been completed, there are some abstracting issues on property line boundaries that we’re working through,” said Harfst. “The city has agreed to purchase the hospital property.”

“The city council has approved an agreement purchase that, but it hasn’t been closed,” Harfst said. “The city will purchase that property to be used…one discussion item here is to possibly use a small portion of that to consider for future cemetery expansion.”

The former hospital property was discussed without any action taken. The committee will be in contact with the city as they start looking for plans on any type of development.

The committee also discussed the possibility of building a columbarium, a room or building with niches for funeral urns to be stored, in the future. The cost to build would be high, according to Harfst.

“I’m guessing it would take a couple hundred thousand dollars to put one in,” said Harfst.

The committee chose to research the columbarium. No action was taken regarding the research or moving forward with the research.

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