Indian Head Walking Tour Brochure & Map.pdf - Tourism ...

18. The Indian Head
Cemetery and Chapel
Indian Head’s first cemetery was established in 1883
at the northeast corner of town. In 1896, after a
particularly wet spring, town officials relocated it to
higher ground, three quarters of a mile west.
In 1902, Wasyl Dasko arrived from Poland. While
working for the town, he kept careful notes on persons
buried and locations of graves. When Arthur Wilfred
Leach was mayor and chairman of the cemetery board,
he supervised planting trees and suggested a chapel
for burial services. This plan came to fruition in 1935,
financed by H. G. W. Wilson.
The cemetery chapel is a hexagonal stucco building
with beveled-glass piano windows and varnished V-joint
lining. An opening in the floor once allowed for the
lowering of caskets until final burial.
When mechanical grave equipment made winter
interment possible, the chapel fell into disuse and
disrepair. Edie Huntley recognized the chapel’s bronze
plaque that had found its way to the Indian Head
museum, and it is now reinstalled on the chapel’s outside
wall.
In 2003, the cemetery restoration committee began
various projects, beginning with a monument to
recognize the early graves. Then, green metal replaced
cedar shingles, crumbling cement steps were replaced,
and other improvements were made. Power from the
generator in the adjacent tool shed provided electric
lights.
The committee hopes to restore this building to its
original beauty, so it can once again be used for simple
services and quiet reflection. DT
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