User:LIUOSU/Crystal Lake Cemetery

Crystal Lake Cemetery, located in Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in June 2004. It is a burial ground that provides Corvallis residents with funeral and burial services. Although the tombs found at Crystal Lake Cemetery are not the oldest ones in Benton County, it is said that Crystal Lake Cemetery is one of the oldest cemetery in continuous use. Memorial Day services have been offered by it for about 60 years. The Corvallis American Legion Post 11 and the Corvallis Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 640 now sponsored the activity near the Civil War monument.

History
It is said that Native Americans used it before Europeans came to the area. It was chosen because it was much higher than the flood level of the Willamette River. More than 3500 people have been buried in the cemetery since 1860.

The predecessor of Corvallis, Marysville, was a brand new town when Joseph Alexander buried his first wife Sarah on their Donation Land Claim in 1850. Designed by Joseph Avery, Marysville is a small town on the Oregon-California trail. In 1851, Joseph Avery renamed this town Corvallis to avoid confusion with another town, Marysville, California. The number of graves increased when Joseph Alexander agreed other families to bury their loved ones on his property. In 1860, Joseph Alexander and his second wife designated the cemetery to Corvallis Masonic Lodge NO. 14. Before the Willamette River was inundated by dams, a small lake was formed by a meandering stream on the east side of the cemetery, which probably be the origin of the name of Crystal Lake Cemetery. It was officially adopted by Lodge on January 20, 1866. At the Memorial Day Services in 1908, a statue commemorating a Civil War Union soldier was presented. For more than 140 years, the Masons kept the cemetery. Eventually, they went to Benton County commissioners and handed over the ownership of the cemetery to the county. In 2001, crystal lake cemetery became part of Benton county's natural district and parks department. And the operation and management of the cemetery was also transferred to Benton County in 2001.

Historic Pioneers buried here

 * Green Berry Smith, Prominent Landowner & Early Pioneer


 * Mary Scott, First Businesswoman of Corvallis & Early Pioneer


 * Benjamin Lee Arnold, OSU President (1872-1892)


 * John Burnett, State Senator & Judge


 * Louis & Maria Southworth, African-American Pioneers


 * Edward Allworth, OSU Class of 1916 & WWI Medal of Honor Recipient


 * Eliza Gorman, African-American Pioneer


 * Joseph Conant Avery, Founder of Corvallis


 * Helen Gikley, OSU Faculty Member & Honored Botanist