Famous people's places / Detroit – East Side
Elmwood Cemetery
Michigan's oldest non-denominational cemetery, dedicated in 1846, the burial place of Governor Lewis Cass and site of the Bloody Run creek.
01 / The story of this place
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Elmwood Cemetery, dedicated in October 1846, is Michigan's oldest non-denominational cemetery and one of the first landscaped rural cemeteries in the Midwest, laid out on 42 acres purchased from a farm and later expanded to 86 acres. Territorial and Michigan governor, U.S. Senator and Secretary of War Lewis Cass was buried here in 1866, one of dozens of governors, mayors, senators and cabinet officials interred on the grounds. Elmwood also became known as the first fully racially integrated cemetery in the Midwest. Its landscaped paths follow the last surviving open stretch of Parent's Creek, renamed Bloody Run after the battle fought there in September 1763, when warriors led by Ottawa leader Pontiac ambushed British troops during the siege of Fort Detroit. The cemetery remains active today, still accepting burials more than a century and a half after it opened.
- Dedicated in October 1846, Michigan's oldest non-denominational cemetery
- Territorial Governor Lewis Cass buried here in 1866
- One of the first fully racially integrated cemeteries in the Midwest
- Grounds include Bloody Run, site of an ambush during Pontiac's 1763 siege of Fort Detroit
- Still an active cemetery today
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 42
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Pontiac 1720–1769 · Odawa war chief
Related place
The last surviving stretch of Parent's Creek, renamed Bloody Run after the 1763 battle, winds through the cemetery's landscaped grounds.
- Lewis Cass 1782–1866 · territorial governor, U.S. senator, secretary of state
Buried here
Detroit's oldest continuously operating cemetery, where he was buried in 1866.
- Russell A. Alger 1836–1907 · lumber baron, Union general, governor of Michigan, secretary of war
Buried here
He is interred in Detroit's historic Elmwood Cemetery.
- Zachariah Chandler 1813–1879 · merchant, mayor of Detroit, U.S. senator
Buried here
His grave is in Detroit's historic Elmwood Cemetery.
- Jacob M. Howard 1805–1871 · lawyer, U.S. senator
Buried here
He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
- Robert McClelland 1807–1880 · lawyer, governor of Michigan, U.S. secretary of the interior
Buried here
He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
- Truman Handy Newberry 1864–1945 · industrialist, secretary of the Navy, U.S. senator
Buried here
He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
- Henry P. Baldwin 1814–1892 · shoe merchant, banker, governor of Michigan, U.S. senator
Buried here
He is interred at Elmwood Cemetery.
- Sam Thompson 1860–1922 · baseball player, right fielder
Buried here
His grave is in Section 2 of Detroit's historic Elmwood Cemetery.
- Coleman Young 1918–1997 · labor organizer, state senator, mayor of Detroit
Buried here
He is interred in Detroit's historic Elmwood Cemetery.
- Donald M. Dickinson 1846–1917 · lawyer, U.S. postmaster general
Buried here
He is interred at Elmwood Cemetery.
- James McMillan 1838–1902 · industrialist, U.S. senator
Buried here
He is interred at Elmwood Cemetery.
- Alpheus S. Williams 1810–1878 · lawyer, newspaper editor, Union general, congressman
Buried here
He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
- William Woodbridge 1780–1861 · territorial secretary, governor of Michigan, U.S. senator
Buried here
He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
- Henry Billings Brown 1836–1913 · lawyer, federal judge, U.S. Supreme Court justice
Buried here
He is buried next to his first wife at Elmwood Cemetery.
- Freddie Gorman 1939–2006 · singer, songwriter, producer
Buried here
His grave (per Wikidata).
- Douglass Houghton 1809–1845 · geologist, physician, mayor of Detroit
Buried here
His remains, found on the Lake Superior shore in spring 1846, were brought back to Detroit and buried here.
- Sylvia Moy 1938–2017 · songwriter, record producer
Buried here
Her grave (per Wikidata).
- George P. Codd 1869–1927 · lawyer, mayor of Detroit, judge, congressman
Buried here
He was interred at Elmwood Cemetery.
- John Biddle 1792–1859 · army officer, mayor of Detroit, territorial delegate
Buried here
He is interred at Elmwood Cemetery.
- Bronson Howard 1842–1908 · playwright
Buried here
Detroit's historic cemetery, his burial place according to Wikidata.
- John C. Lodge 1862–1950 · journalist, city council president, mayor of Detroit
Buried here
He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
- William C. Maybury 1848–1909 · lawyer, congressman, mayor of Detroit
Buried here
He was interred at Elmwood Cemetery.
- Solomon Sibley 1769–1846 · lawyer, first mayor of Detroit, territorial judge
Buried here
He was buried at Elmwood in the year the cemetery opened.
- Hiram Walker 1816–1899 · grocer and distiller, founder of Hiram Walker & Sons (Canadian Club)
Buried here
Detroit's historic east-side cemetery, where Walker is buried.
- Don Davis 1938–2014 · record producer, songwriter, guitarist, banker
Buried here
His grave (per Wikidata).
- John R. Williams 1782–1854 · merchant, first elected mayor of Detroit
Buried here
He is interred at Elmwood Cemetery.
- Henry B. Joy 1864–1936 · president of the Packard Motor Car Company, Lincoln Highway promoter
Buried here
Detroit's historic east-side cemetery, where Joy is buried.
- Naomi Long Madgett 1923–2020 · poet, publisher, teacher
Buried here
Detroit's historic cemetery, her burial place according to Wikidata.
- William Richert 1858–1912 · grocer, council president, acting mayor of Detroit
Buried here
He was buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
- Ben Blackwell born 1982 · drummer, record label executive, writer, archivist
Related place
Historic east side cemetery that inspired his song “Bury My Body at Elmwood.”
- E. Azalia Hackley 1867–1922 · concert soprano, choral director, educator, activist
Buried here
Hackley is buried in Detroit's oldest non-denominational cemetery.
- Jonathan Kearsley 1786–1859 · army officer, federal land official, mayor of Detroit
Buried here
He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
- Henry Ledyard 1812–1880 · diplomat, businessman, mayor of Detroit
Founded
He was one of the original promoters of this rural cemetery, where his father-in-law Lewis Cass is buried.
- Zina Pitcher 1797–1872 · physician, botanist, mayor of Detroit
Buried here
He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
- Martha Jean Steinberg 1930–2000 · radio broadcaster, station owner, minister
Buried here
Her grave.
- George DeBaptiste 1815–1875 · Underground Railroad conductor, entrepreneur
Buried here
Detroit's historic cemetery, resting place of many of the city's abolitionists, including DeBaptiste.
- Lisette Denison Forth 1786–1866 · formerly enslaved landowner and philanthropist
Buried here
Detroit's historic cemetery, where she was buried in 1866.
- William Lambert 1817–1890 · abolitionist, Underground Railroad leader
Buried here
Buried here on April 30, 1890, among many of Detroit's abolitionists, including George DeBaptiste.
- Bernhard Stroh 1822–1882 · brewer, founder of the Stroh Brewery
Buried here
Detroit's historic garden cemetery, where Stroh is buried.
- George Pierrot 1898–1980 · travel-film host, editor, lecture impresario
Buried here
Detroit's oldest nondenominational cemetery, where Pierrot is buried.
- Sunnie Wilson 1908–1999 · nightclub and hotel owner, promoter
Buried here
Michigan's oldest continuously operating non-denominational cemetery, where Wilson is buried in Section B.
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Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
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