Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake City

The Salt Lake City Cemetery, one of the largest municipally-operated cemeteries in the U.S., sits on over 250 acres in the Avenues neighborhood. Established formally in 1851 but in use since 1848, the cemetery was born when George Wallace buried his daughter, Mary, marking the first burial after the Mormon pioneers' arrival. Later, Wallace, alongside Daniel H. Wells and Joseph Heywood, designated 20 acres for the city’s burial ground, with Wallace becoming its first sexton.

This sprawling cemetery, with around 120,000 buried and approximately 130,000 burial sites, features 9 ½ miles of roads and numerous “plats”—sections developed over time and divided into lots, each holding up to ten graves. Inspired by the rural cemetery movement, its park-like design is dotted with an impressive urban forest, nurtured over 170 years, and sustained through the continued planting of new trees.

The Salt Lake City Cemetery is renowned not only for its scale but also for its historical significance. Many prominent leaders, particularly of the LDS Church, rest here alongside figures who contributed to the development of Salt Lake City. Notable burials include Orrin Porter Rockwell, lawman and bodyguard to Joseph Smith; Lester F. Wire, the inventor of the traffic light; and Jane Manning James, a pioneering Black woman in the LDS community. Adding a unique note, the cemetery also holds a British Commonwealth war grave of a Canadian World War I soldier.

The Salt Lake City Cemetery, with its history, legends, and serene layout, reflects the city’s roots and community legacy while continuing to be a significant part of Salt Lake’s cultural and historical landscape.