Halloween special: Looking back on the Richmond’s cemeteries

I teamed up with VidSF.com to produce a short video in honor of Halloween. Many San Franciscans don’t know that the Richmond District used to be home to several cemeteries. Beginning in the early 1900s and until the 1940’s, the cemeteries were decommissioned and the remains were moved out to Colma. Or at least we think they were…

In the video, we visited what was the location of the Odd Fellows Cemetery, where today you can visit the Columbarium (and be inurned there if you so desire) and enjoy Rossi Playground where bodies were buried and the Oddfellows crematorium stoked its fires.

We also ventured out to Lincoln Park and the Legion of Honor which sit on what was once City Cemetery, a burial ground for ethnic and religious minorities, indigents and members of various benevolent associations. As you’ll learn in the video, some of the remains, well, still remain. Spooky!

For more history on the cemeteries (and the neighborhood), I highly recommend the book San Francisco’s Richmond District by Lorri Ungaretti. You may also want to watch A Second Final Rest: The History of San Francisco’s Lost Cemeteries, a documentary by Trina Lopez which is available for download or for rent at the SF Public Library Main Branch History Center. Both of these were invaluable resources for the video.

Special thanks to the crew that shot the video last weekend:

Host: Dhaya Lakshminarayanan
Camera: Shikiri Hightower
Special guest: Lorri Ungaretti, Author and Richmond District historian
Intern: Hanna Choe

Below are some interesting historical photos of the cemeteries from Lorri Ungaretti’s book. Happy Halloween everyone!

Sarah B.

An 1891 map showing the five cemeteries in the northwestern part of San Francisco.
Note the City Cemetery in the upper left corner, and the the other four on the right side
(Laurel Hill Cemetery, Odd Fellows Cemetery, Masonic Cemetery, Calvary Cemetery).
Courtesy of Richard Brandi.

A crew works to remove the bodies from Odd Fellows Cemetery, December 26, 1933.
This is now the site of Rossi Playground.

A panoramic view of Odd Fellows Cemetery. Note the Columbarium on the far right. On the very
far left edge, you can see the top of the crematorium. 1865.

The Odd Fellows Crematorium building can be seen in the background. Remains were then inurned
in the Columbarium nearby. Courtesy of Glenn Koch.

In the early years of San Francisco, there was little greenery or trees, so it was not unusual for residents
to flock to the cemeteries for recreation. This photo shows a Memorial Day celebration at
Laurel Hill Cemetery in 1909.