The following is an article found in the Niagara Falls Gazette in 1855 – three years after the cemetery was established in 1852.
“Oakwood Cemetery.
About mid-way between Niagara Falls and Niagara City, and a short distance East, is a plot of ground set apart under the above name for the repose of the dead. It consists of about 18 acres, and since the organization of the Cemetery in 1852 has been more or less improved by the Trustees and owners of lots. The grounds are rolling and the unimproved portion covered with young oak and hickory trees. When the proposed improvements have been made, and which will be made from time to time, Oakwood Cemetery will be one of the most beautiful burial places in Western New York.
The Trustees have adopted rules and regulations for the protection of the grounds, concerning interments, &c. Interments are made under the direction of a Superintendent of the grounds, and by permission from the Secretary, or, in his absence from one of the Trustees. The Superintendent keeps a registry of the name, place of nativity, residence, age and disease of the person interred, which is required to be furnished by the friends of the deceased.
He is allowed the following fees: -For conveying a body to the Cemetery $1,00; opening closing and sodding each grave $2,00. Child’s grave $1,50.
Visitors may enter the grounds during the day. None but owners of lots and their household are permitted to enter the grounds on horseback, and they only by special permit at the Cemetery office. Each proprietor is permitted to enter the grounds with a vehicle under certain regulations
The present officers of the Cemetery are as follows:-
P. Whitney, President; P. B. Porter, Vice President; H. W. Clark, Treasurer; O. G. Johnson, S. M. N. Whitney, E. P. Graves, H. H. Hill, P. A. Po[r]ter and Ambrose Packard, Trustees; Chas. H. Piper, Secretary.”1
- “Oakwood Cemetery,” Niagara Falls (NY) Gazette, 23 May 1855, p. 2, col. 3; digital images, Old Fulton New York Post Cards (https://www.fultonhistory.com : accessed 14 April 2025), Historical Newspapers United States and Canada: Niagara Falls NY Gazette 1854-1857 Grayscale – 0205.pdf.