Oak Grove Cemetery in Bowling Green, Ohio was established in 1872 based on civic pride. John Shannon, the mayor of Bowling Green at the time, designed the cemetery layout which included concentric circles of burial plots extending up a hill with bisecting paths. While Shannon had no prior landscaping experience, it is believed he based the design on the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania due to his commitment to honoring veterans. Shannon proposed a veterans memorial for Oak Grove but passed away before it could be constructed, though he was buried facing the proposed memorial site.

1. Oak Grove Cemetery
Layout
“For scholars, the tombstones and landscape
design provide valuable material that can help
researchers understand nineteenth-century
American culture” (Kaser 23).

2. Cemetery Layout Overview
● Bowling Green town improvements needed
● 1872 Committee appointed to find location for new
cemetery
● Land purchased
● Oak Grove founded based on civic pride motivation
● John Shannon, mayor of Bowling Green, draws up
cemetery plan

3. Oak Grove Design Preliminary
Plans
● Col. John Shannon- Mayor, Veteran, and Cemetery
Designer
● Based on the Wood County Sentinel editor, C.W. Ever’s
plan, his successor, A.W. Rudolph and the Cemetery
Trustees planned to civilize Bowling Green through a
multi-step plan. Part of that plan was creating a better
cemetery.
○ Oak Grove was to be the “finest cemetery in the
county”

4. BGSU Center for Archival Collections. Northwest Ohio Quarterly, Vol. 68. No. 1 (Winter 1996) Kaser 27

5. Oak Grove Design Preliminary
Plans
● “Paths and burial plots laid out in concentric circles that
extend to the top of the hill on which the cemetery is
sited “ (Kaser 23).
● “Straight drives bisected these concentric lines, one
running north to south and another east to west. Straight
walkways bisected the circles again, running from the
southeast to northeast to northwest and from the
southwest to northeast of the site (Kaser 26).
○ (Figure 1)

6. BGSU Center for Archival Collections. Northwest Ohio Quarterly, Vol. 68. No. 1 (Winter 1996) Kaser 29

7. Where Did Shannon’s Ideas for
Oak Grove Cemetery Originate?
● Although we may never know for certain, Shannon didn’t
seem to have any prior landscaping experience. It is
believed that he borrowed the landscape design of the
famous Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg, PA,
designed by William Saunders (Kaser 28).
○ (Figure 2)
● Shannon was a veteran and committed to the idea of
honoring veterans in the new cemetery.

8. BGSU Center for Archival Collections. Northwest Ohio Quarterly, Vol. 68. No. 1 (Winter 1996) Kaser 29

9. Committed to Honoring Veterans
in Oak Grove Cemetery
● In 1876, Shannon presented an address and supervised
the strewing of flowers on the graves of veterans at
Bowling Green’s “Decoration Day” activities (Kaser 30).
● He proposed a veterans memorial in the innermost circle
of Oak Grove.
● Although Shannon died in MI, he was buried in Bowling
Green, OH’s Oak Grove Cemetery, facing his proposed
veteran’s memorial which was never constructed (Kaser
30). His legacy lives on.