Topeka Cemetery - Mausoleum Row - Topeka, Kansas - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Mausoleum Row is situated on the forty four acre original tract of Topeka Cemetery and is identified as Section Sixty Two. Set in an eastern bluff of the Shunganunga Creek Valley, the Row faces west-northwest and is approached by a curbed road from Tenth Street cemetery entrance. This Road brances into a macadam paved, two lane, concrete curbed drive divided by a median, forming a loop. A lesser drive continues up the hillside from the south end of the Row. The row of structures, also known as the Hillside Mausoleums, are set in earth on single plots along the curbed drive. Fieldstone, laid in rubble course, retains the earth along the curbed drive and forms a wall immediately behind the facades, however, the earth at mausolea on plots one and two is graded in a slope to the curbed drive. In plan, the wall, plots, curbed drive, and structures are laid out along an arced line segment that is approximately 250 feet long. The arc has a radius of 256 feet.

The mausolea present a monolithic wall of monumental, architecturally styled, limestone facades that command their notice in the hillside landscape. The earth retained atop the fieldstone all provides a plateau over the mausolea. The plateau is adjoined on the east by cemetery plots, and the north and south sides are grassy slopes down to the curbed drive. The west edge of the plateau drops vertically to the curbed drive by means of the fieldstone retaining wall. A path of broken steps on the north side of the row connect the plateau and curbed drive, and the plateau once had a broad strolling path along its west edge.

Directly west of the mausolea is a large burial plot known as Hurley Park. The curbed drive, which is set on this plot, forms a large, level terrace before the row. A portion of this terrace is an oval shaped lawn formed as the inside of the curbed drive. The center of this lawn is a grave site and is marked by a granite plinth supporting a colossal, granite obelisk dedicated in memory of james Hurley. Two early 20th century, above ground mausolea are sited on the southern edge of the plot, outside the curbed drive. Between these mausolea and the oval lawn, a concrete bench formed in the shape of tree limbs is set in the triangular shaped median of the curbed drive. The terrace overlooks the Shunganunga Creek Valley through the trees growing near Biddle Creek at the base of the bluff.

The mausolea facades are mostly of limestone with the occasional use of rose granite. There are no known drawings or historical photographs of the mausolea, and no known modifications to them. Mortar repairs to the fieldstone retaining wall are apparent at various points, and the mausolea facades show moderate deterioration of workmanship and materials. The Mulvane Mausoleum façade has recently been cleaned and like the others needs maonry pointing. A section of the retaining wall on the south side of this mausoleum has been recently rebuilt.

The plots are modestly maintained by the cemetery association. The recent Mulvane Mausoleum cleaning and repairs was supported by a Mulvane family descendant, however, private ownership of the mausolea has otherwise ceased. The other plots and structures on them are the property of the cemetery association. The Crane Mausoleum, which is an equipment storage vault, has always been property of cemetery.