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Glenwood Cemetery is located in Houston, Texas, United States. Developed in 1871, the first professionally designed cemetery in the city accepted its first burial in 1872. Its location at Washington Avenue overlooking Buffalo Bayou served as an entertainment attraction in the 1880s. The design was based on principles for garden cemeteries, breaking the pattern of the typical gridiron layouts of most Houston cemeteries. Many influential people lay to rest at Glenwood, making it the "River Oaks of the dead." As of 2018, Glenwood includes the annexed property of the adjacent Washington Cemetery, creating a total area of 84 acres with 18 acres still undeveloped.
Notable burials at Glenwood include former residents of the Republic of Texas, some who were re-interred from condemned cemeteries from downtown Houston. Charlotte Allen and William Robinson Baker were early arrivals to Houston, and also long time residents. Baker was one of several interments of former mayors of Houston. The last president of the Republic of Texas, Anson Jones, has a family plot. Former governors of Texas and a former governor of Mississippi lie at rest at the cemetery, as do some high-ranking federal officials. Scions of the oil business include two co-founders of Sharp-Hughes Tools, as well as founders and early investors of Texaco and Humble Oil. The founding president of Rice University, the school's chief architect, and the institute's first trustee are found at Glenwood.
Glenwood Cemetery developed on two tracts of land on the north side of Buffalo Bayou, and west of Downtown Houston. Part of this land conveyed from the country estate of Archibald Wynns, a Houston lawyer and Congressman for the Republic of Texas. This tract was later the location of a brickyard, then the property of William Harrison King, who served as mayor of Houston. Glenwood Cemetery purchased the property and some adjacent land in the Hollingsworth Survey in 1870. Alfred Whitaker gained a charter to incorporate the Houston Cemetery Company. He owned his own landscaping company and used his expertise to clear out lots, lay out and grade right of ways, and otherwise beautify the landscape. Glenwood hosted its first burial on June 19, 1872. Many remains were reinterred at Glenwood after the condemnations of St. Vincent's and the Episcopal cemeteries. Glenwood obtained its state charter as the Houston Cemetery Company, starting as for-profit institution, the first state charter for a cemetery. About 25 years later, the Houston Cemetery Company changed its status to non-profit.
By 1874, Glenwood was a recreational destination. A mule-drawn street railway operated on Washington Road, conveying people to Glenwood for weekend and holiday visits. Upgrades and expansions to the street railways were both a response to demand for travel to the cemetery and a cause of it. Glenwood remained popular for about twenty years. A group led by W. D. Cleveland criticized the conditions of lots and roads in 1896 and asked for a receivership to manage Glenwood. Two court decisions resulted in a transfer of management to William Christian. Glenwood underwent reorganization in 1904, and more recently was reorganized as the non-profit Glenwood Cemetery, Incorporated in 1969. A separate organization, the Glenwood Cemetery Historic Preservation Foundation, started overseeing historic preservation of the property in 1999. The same year Glenwood acquired the adjacent Washington Cemetery, expanding its land area by 118 acres.
Keith Rosen, a Houston area history professor quoted in the San Antonio Express-News, said that the cemetery is the "River Oaks of the dead." In 2003 the Houston Press ranked it as the "Best Cemetery".
Glenwood Cemetery is located on the northern bank of Buffalo Bayou, and bounded by Washington Avenue to the north. Parts of the property afford views of the downtown Houston skyline, of Memorial Drive, and of Allen Parkway. The grounds are shaded by numerous hardwoods, and the bluffs are cut by deep ravines leading to the bayou. The grounds have formal landscaping, and a diversity of statues and monuments. The property covers 84 acres, with 18 acres still undeveloped as of 2018.
According to architectural historian Stephen Fox, many of Houston's earlier cemeteries featured a gridiron arrangement of grave sites, following a pattern of urban cemeteries. Glenwood did not employ a gridiron arrangement, and even many of Glenwood's successors retained the old manner of urban cemetery design.
Glenwood was the first burial ground in Houston to be professionally designed. An English horticulturalist named Alfred Whitaker was contracted to create the plan. He did a magnificent job of taking advantage of the terrain to enhance the beauty of the site. Whitaker used Greenwood Cemetery (Brooklyn, NY) and Mt. Auburn Cemetery (Cambridge, MA) as models for Glenwood. 0196-glenwood-champion-oakIt is filled with live oak trees including “Cemetery Oak,” one of the largest in Harris County with a circumference of 216″, a height of 52′ and a crown spread of 123′. It is estimated to be well over 100 years old. The Harris County Tree Registry recognizes two specimens here as County Champions – an Eastern Red Cedar (156″, 65′ & 41′) and a Mockernut Hickory (74″, 64′ & 52′). Covering an area of approximately 85 acres Glenwood is large enough to support an amazing variety of wildlife including a skulk of foxes, roaming coyotes, raccoons, possums, armadillos, raptors and an occasional alligator that ventures up from Buffalo Bayou. On November 2, 1886 an unusual event occurred here: on that day more than 4,000 persons met here for a picnic.
This cemetery is located on 2525 Washington Avenue, Houston, Harris County, Texas.