The interior of the Oak Hill Cemetery Mausoleum is pictured May 24, 2017.

The future of the 100-year-old Oak Hill Cemetery Mausoleum may not be as grand as its beginnings, but significant repairs for the ailing structure will begin soon.

There are no plans to relocate the remains of the dozens of people contained in the mausoleum’s catacombs, and the city is preparing to spend thousands of dollars to better seal the structure.

“The primary goal on that is to keep it basically weather proof, so we’re not getting water inside the building,” said Mark Hecker, assistant director of the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department.

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It still stands

The Oak Hill Cemetery Mausoleum is pictured May 24, 2017.

The city is the caretaker of the mausoleum, where the remains of approximately 50 people are entombed. Some descendants of those interred have expressed disappointment regarding the city’s handling of the mausoleum.

Years ago, the city notified them that the mausoleum was deteriorating and requested that they move their relatives out. City records indicate the caskets or urns of about 20 people were removed.

“We went through that push because we were again at the point where there was some major structural things that needed to be done, so the consideration was, ‘Well, could we clear this out?'” Hecker said. “But through that process we weren’t able to move everyone out for direct burial, so it still stands.”

Before that, though, one can see why Lawrence families such as the Ashers, Barbers, Daltons and Graebers might have been proud to make the mausoleum their family’s resting place. The stone building is adorned with arched windows and brass double doors. In the center of the 104 white-faced crypts is a small, domed chapel space, once faced with a stained glass window.

But today, the mausoleum is sealed. The arched windows are filled in. Plywood backs the padlocked entrance. The remaining panels of stained glass, hanging like broken teeth, are hidden behind tinted plexiglass. Inside, the remaining caskets and urns sit behind missing or buckling crypt facings.

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Keeping it sound

The interior of the Oak Hill Cemetery Mausoleum is pictured May 24, 2017.

Most of the improvements planned for the mausoleum are structural. Hecker said repairs will be made to the mausoleum’s roof, and tuck-pointing will be done to refill the mortar between the stones.

The repair work will deplete the city’s meager mausoleum fund, left to it more than 100 years ago by the Ohio Mausoleum company that built the mausoleum and sold the crypts to Lawrence families.

“Honestly (the repairs) are going to cost probably quite a bit more than that,” Hecker said. “Just the tuck-pointing itself is going to be over $5,000.”

The fund currently has about $4,200, and Hecker said he expects the repairs to cost about $10,000 total. There won’t be repairs to the ornamental aspects or interior of the building, though Hecker said they have done some cleanup and resealing.

“As far as upkeep, we’ve done just a little bit on the interior,” Hecker said. “We went in and kind of cleaned the interior and then closed up all the openings on the exterior.”

The maintenance of the mausoleum has been an issue for decades, and in 1951 — only about 30 years after the mausoleum was built — a group of Lawrence residents who had bought crypts in the mausoleum for their families sued the city. The judge ordered the city to make repairs using the funds left to it by Ohio Mausoleum and to raise additional funds if necessary, including donations or by collecting funds from crypt owners in accordance with their purchase contract.

Lawrence attorney Henry Asher, who had purchased space in the mausoleum, was the attorney representing the crypt owners in the lawsuit against the city. Asher died eight years after the conclusion of the case, and his cremated remains and those of three other members of his family were subsequently interred in the mausoleum. The Journal-World has not been able to confirm with the city whether the Ashers were among the remains moved out.

It is also not clear what became of that court ruling, as its existence was until recently unknown to city officials. While structural upkeep has been done over the years, the structure has never been fully rehabilitated.

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Not enough money

As with cemetery plots, those who purchased the crypts, or their descendants, own the mausoleum. As caretaker, the city is in charge of the mausoleum fund. Part of the issue with restoring the structure is that the funds left to the city were not enough to keep up with the destruction wrought by vandals, weather and time.

The ordinance detailing the deal states that Ohio Mausoleum would convey $2,000 to the city. The money would be used to purchase municipal bonds, and the interest on those bonds would be spent exclusively for the building’s “insurance, upkeep and maintenance.” The ordinance states that if additional funds are needed, they should be collected proportionally from crypt owners.

City Attorney Toni Wheeler said the interest derived from the endowment fund is not sufficient to rehabilitate the structure, and she is not aware of any plans by the city to request the crypt owners to contribute.

Wheeler noted that the cemetery director has reported that no one has requested entry into the mausoleum for the past 20 years. She said the city has not tried to locate descendants, but the task would likely be difficult because of the time that has passed.

“Nobody has even left any flowers or any sort of remembrance on Memorial Day, so we may very well have a difficult time even tracking down the descendants of the people that are there,” Wheeler said.

Still, as the mausoleum is within the city-operated cemetery, Wheeler said the city will maintain the mausoleum within the resources that it has.

“We will make sure that it is structurally sound and the exterior of it is maintained appropriately within our other cemetery maintenance responsibilities,” Wheeler said. “It’s not just that the endowment fund has dried up and that we’re never going to make any improvements to it in the future.”

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For those who remain

At one point, there were about 70 people entombed in the mausoleum, with dates ranging from 1918 to 1966, according to cemetery records. Some families interred multiple generations. Today, 48 caskets or urns remain in the mausoleum, according to Hecker.

The difficulty of identifying and contacting descendants of the crypt owners also means the city isn’t likely to move additional remains out of the mausoleum.

Wheeler said that as operator of the cemetery, the city has the power to remove and re-bury remains that are contained in a mausoleum that has become structurally unsound. Wheeler said that although it is a best practice for a city to advise family members about the transfer, it is not required by law. However, she emphasized she is not aware of any plans to remove remains.

Hecker said though the city has sent out letters to descendants in the past, it didn’t move any remains unless requested and is no longer attempting to contact descendants of those interred.

“During that time we didn’t get a lot of responses back, so,” Hecker said.

Hecker said if families are unsure of where their relatives are interred, there is an interactive cemetery map where names can be searched. He also said that though the mausoleum will remain sealed — including for Memorial Day — descendants of those interred may contact the city’s cemetery department in advance if they would like to enter the mausoleum in the future.

Hecker said the structural repairs to the roof and masonry of the Oak Hill Mausoleum will begin next month.