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Oakland Cemetery
Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa

GPS: 41.67002,-91.51950

1000 Brown St.
Iowa City, IA 52245

Published: December 26, 2019
Total records: 18,239

Oakland Cemetery is owned and operated by the City of Iowa City.

Cemetery History

Oakland Cemetery was deeded to "the people of Iowa City" by the Iowa territorial legislature on Feb. 13, 1843. The original plot was one block square, with the southwest corner at Governor and Church. Over the years the cemetery has been expanded and now encompasses 40 acres.

Oakland Cemetery is a non-perpetual care City cemetery. This cemetery is supported by city taxes.

Since its establishment, the cemetery has become the final resting place of many men and women important in the history of Iowa, of Iowa City and the University of Iowa. These include Robert E. Lucas, first governor of the territory (1838-41); Samuel J. Kirkwood, governor during the Civil War (1860-64), again in 1876, a U.S. senator in 1877, and subsequently secretary of the interior and U.S. minister to Spain; well-known presidents of the university, Walter A. Jessup (1915-33) and Virgil M. Hancher (1940-64); Cordelia Swan, daughter of one of the three commissioners who selected the site for Iowa City and the new territorial capitol; and Irving B. Weber (1900-1997), noted Iowa City historian.

It is also home to the legendary monument called the Black Angel, which is an 8.5 foot tall monument for the Feldevert family erected in 1912. The facts behind the Black Angel long ago gave way to myths, superstitions and legend surrounding its mysterious change in color from a golden bronze cast to an eerie black.

Cemetery Records

Records linked below were acquired in electronic form from the City of Iowa City on December 26, 2019. Dates of death range from 1809 to 2019.

(*) Dates marked with an asterisk are "estimated" based on the City's available information.

Deeded Body Program: Records tagged with the words "Deeded Body Program" were persons who requested their bodies be donated for research to the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. The College has an agreement with the City to inter remains at Oakland Cemetery.

Surname Index:

Downloadable Files

• Oakland Cemetery, Plot Owners, (1.60 MB)