Woodmere Cemetery

01 / The story of this place

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The Woodmere Cemetery Association was founded on July 8, 1867, by a group of prominent Detroit businessmen who purchased some 250 acres southwest of the city for a rural, park-style cemetery designed by landscape architect Adolph Strauch. The first burial took place in 1868, and the grounds were formally dedicated the following year; roughly 2,000 graves were later moved here from Detroit's old City Cemetery. Industrial and automotive pioneers David D. Buick, Henry M. Leland and Hamilton Carhartt were laid to rest here, alongside newspaper founder James E. Scripps. Private Eddie Slovik, the only American soldier executed for desertion since the Civil War, was shot by a firing squad in France in 1945 and buried there for decades before the U.S. Army finally released his remains; he was reburied in Woodmere in 1987 next to his wife, Antoinette, who had campaigned for years for his return. Woodmere remains an active cemetery on Detroit's southwest side today.

1. Founded July 8, 1867, by prominent Detroit businessmen.
2. Designed as a rural park cemetery by Adolph Strauch.
3. Automotive pioneers David Buick and Henry Leland are buried here.
4. Eddie Slovik, the only US soldier executed for desertion since the Civil War, was reburied here in 1987.