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Jan 19, 2024

Deer Lodge Cemetery Nominated for Historic Register Listing

A cemetery bearing poignant markers near Deer Lodge is under consideration for

A cemetery bearing poignant markers near Deer Lodge is under consideration for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.

The 49-acre Hillcrest Cemetery sits in the shadow of Mount Powell, with more than 4,600 graves dating from 1870 to the present. It represents the final resting place of many prominent Montana pioneers and mirrors major events that impacted the Deer Lodge community, Montana Territory, and the state.

"The cemetery is one of Montana's oldest existing, active cemeteries, created when city planners realized encroaching development would negatively impact and limit the city's first urban burial grounds," historian Ellen Baumler wrote in the National Register's nominating paperwork. "Contributing sites within the Hillcrest Cemetery include the highly visible gravesite of copper king William A. Clark's two children, a section devoted to the Montana State Prison, and 24 tombstones of Japanese residents, most associated with the Northern Pacific railyards in Deer Lodge.

"A stunning architect-designed Greek Revival mausoleum and a Craftsman style tool house recall the early 20th century. Monuments include memorials to civil and foreign war veterans, unidentified Catholics removed from the earlier burial ground, and a monument to pioneer Granville Stuart."

Baumler noted that other distinctive gravestones include two children's graves. One features a lamb curled on the tombstone of Marjorie Macone, who died in 1915 of septicemia following a throat infection at age 1. The second child's grave is a large, marble tombstone for Katie Blessinger, who died of diphtheria in 1888 at age 3. It features a carved marble chair with small shoes tucked underneath and clothing draped across the back.

At the cemetery's western edge, a sign and a circle of stones marks the Montana State Prison cemetery. The area was set aside for use by the federal territorial prison, circa 1870, and after Montana statehood in 1889, for the Montana State Prison.

Another noted grave is that of Janette Kelley, who as the original model for Betty Crocker set up the first test kitchen for what would become General Mills. Also interred in Hillcrest is Armistead Mitchell, who built the state hospital at Warm Springs.

Baumler notes that the cemetery is significant based on religion, its social history, and exploration/settlement.

"Hillcrest Cemetery mirrors events that impacted the Deer Lodge community and Montana," Baumler wrote. "Hillcrest represents the main burial ground for Montana's earliest pioneers from far-flung mining camps" along with prominent pioneers who helped lay the foundation of the State of Montana.

For more information, contact Eve Byron, Montana Historical Society public information officer, at 406/444-6843 or [email protected]