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A MAGNIFICENT MEMORIALMRS. POTTER’S GRAND TESTIMONIAL TO ASPEN GROVE CEMETERY.0. M. Burrus and Bro. Complete the Magnificent Gateway to Burlington’s Beautiful City of the Dead.If anything was needed to add to the exquisite beauty of Aspen Grove, the raoBt beautiful of all the cemeteries of the west, it was left for Mrs. Thomas J. Potter to add what this most estimable woman calls her mite.The picturesque and perfect landscape with which nature had endowed this sweet and quiet resting place, had been enhanced by the rare taste of the former president of the association, Mr. Charles J. Starker. All his later years were devoted to adding to nature’s munificent gift his rare knowledge and experience in landscape gardening, and this royal gift was a vital factor in securing the great results that prevail everywhere throughout this quiet home of the mourned ones of Burlington.After the death of Mr. Starker, the association placed Mr. E. Hagemann, hla constant associate and companion in life, in charge, and the w'ork of beautifying has gone forward steadily, consistently and with the same quiet and perfect taste that marked its improvement in Mr Starker’s time.But it needed one finishing monument to make its beauty perpetual and impressive, and this crowning work was undertaken by Mrs. Thomas J. Potter, in memory of a loving husbandand her son and daughters who, lying side by side in. its quiet environments, continue her constant care and ceaseless visitation. Without ostentation or promise, she simply obtained permission from the association to erect a granite entrance to the cemetery, promising nothing and asking no con cession or assistance. This granted, she submitted her ideas to the wcll-known granite firm of O. M. Burrus Bro., and between them there was thrown open this w’eek the beautiful rr.d massive granite archway and gran ite memorial cottage for the use of the public.No conception of the real beauty and grandeur of this artistic work can be* conceived without a personal visit.| Architects and citizens who have vis-1 ited the metropolitan cemeteries of the country are emphatic in their statement that no such beautiful work can be found at the entrance of a single one. Magnificent Greenwood, of New nor beautiful Spring Grove, ofCincinnati, show neither such exqui-j site taste nor such perfect workmanship.The gateway measures sixty feet from side to side, with massive steel gates for cortege or pedestrian. Con-| Crete platforms surround the entrance and concrete paving leads up from both inside and out. The arch Is entirely of the famous gray granite of Vermont, massive In every detail, with curved and polished arches and artistic J copings. At the top of the archway, in gothic letters, is the inscription,3907—POTTER MEMORIAL—1907 ASPEN GROVE.The entrance cottage is builded of the same massive material, with commodious waiting rooms for gentlemen and ladies, lavatories, toilets, grate fireplaces, handsome tile floors and wainscoting of the finest polished Tennessee pink marble. The building, like j the archway, is practically indestruct i ible, and no one is now young 'enough to live to see it in the first stage ofdecay. The roof is of steel girders and concrete, and the heavy oaken doors, and rare plate glass of the w indow’s, guarantee its life to be greater than that of any generation. A neat and modest marble tablet on the outer wull bears the impressive inscription that will make more than one passerby stop a moment in reverence. It leads:—IN MEMORY OF MARY E. POTTER.To the good taste and skilled workmanship, our people must give homage to O. M. Burrus Bro., but to the grand philanthropy and generous impulse of Mrs. Thomas J. Potter they must doff their hat in reverence, and give all the honor and glory so good a woman so richly deserves.Strangers who have seen the work are unstinted in their prate1 of Its methodical and graceful symmetry and perfect alignment, and pronounce it without exceution the most elaborate.becoming and tasteful work of its kind that can be found in our country.The Gazette’s reference to this work has been made after Mrs. Potter’s earne st request that the newspapers do not give publicity to w hat she has done, but it does not believe that harm can follow this modest notice, and notwithstanding Burlington’s great debt to the generous donor, it believes it has the right to let the w’orld know of the benefit it has received, and from whose hands it came.The Reason for Conversion.“The late Sir Wiliam Henry Perkin, the inventor of coal tar dyes,” said a Philadelphia chemist, ‘had a singularly j lucid mind. I once heard him talking about the missionary movement.“Sir William had been for years a warm supporter of this movement, and he praised it highly, but he coon* demned certain phases of it, illustrating the phase he meant by a quotation from a letter—a letter written by thenotable Capt. Davis to Secretary Wals*ingham about the conversion of the In* dians.The letter ran:‘“If these people (the Indians) were once brought over to the Christian faith they might soon be brought to relish a more civilize*.' sd of life, and be thereby Induced to consume greater quantities of our coarser woolen manufactures.’ ”—Washington Star.Shopping Time.Crowding ’round the counters Coming up the ai les,Looking sharp for bargains, Seeking newest styles; Packing every street ear;Guess it is the sign Christmas is a-coming—Better get In lino.—Cleveland Plain-Dealer.A balky machine puls iron into the soul of man.
Newspaper Details
Burlington Evening Gazette
Burlington, Iowa, US
Thu, Dec 12, 1907
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Burlington P.
IA, USA 20 Sep 2023
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