Mount Hope Cemetery : : Serving Topeka since 1906

Perpetual Care Cemetery

The Mount Hope Singing Tower is a famous feature in the most popular section of the cemetery. The Singing Tower was the first tower ever planned for a cemetery in the United States. It was first played in 1931 and has become more popular with each generation of listeners. The Tower played each Memorial Day and on request with each internment in Mount Hope. In 1996, new carillons were installed which play on the hour for certain services and special occasions.

The Lord’s Prayer, carved in deep letters on a huge single slab Bible, is the largest feature in the Sunset Section. This feature is the largest granite Bible in Kansas, weighing more than 5,000 pounds with the book measuring eight feet wide and over five feet tall.

In the Garden of Prayer Cremation Garden stands an exact reproduction of Thorwaldsen’s famous statue of “The Christus” in white Carrara marble (right).

The Italian marble memorial of the four writers of the Gospel: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is a beautiful feature in the Garden of Faith Section. This section overlooks the Chapel Garden Mausoleum.

The Garden of the Last Supper is a fitting name of the section in which an original bronze “Last Supper” was created by world famous sculptor, J. Otto Schweizer. More than 40,000 people viewed this bronze in Chicago the week it was displayed.

In 1961, the Lincoln Garden was opened and a one-half scale replica of the Lincoln Memorial statue in Washington D.C. (right) was dedicated. The statue is also of white Carrara marble and was the work of Almo Lavagnini, one of Italy’s foremost sculptors. A tablet of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is also located in the Lincoln Garden.

In the Carver section you find a feature memorializing George Washington Carver. It is made of gray granite and is engrave with his likeness.

A beautiful pergola (right) is the feature in the Roselawn section. This pergola shades the roses planted in the feature which adorns this section.

The Good Shepherd section (below right) features a color mural of Christ on one side and cremation niches on the other. The niches are made of Missouri Red granite.

Since the beginning of the cemetery, Mount Hope has had a special garden for our beloved veterans. This started with our first section, the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) Section. Space is furnished to indigent veterans, except for a $75 fee for perpetual care and other administrative costs.

The next section opened for our men in uniform is called the Veteran’s Section. This section is located near the front gate. In 1948 the Topeka chapter of the American War Dads dedicated the Shawnee County World War II Veterans Memorial with its Court of Honor.

On Memorial Day 1988, the Veteran’s Family Garden was opened. This section allows additional space for veterans who need burial plots for other family members which is not permitted in America’s national cemeteries. The feature in this section showcases granite cremation niches and a flagpole. This section requires bronze on granite markers east of the feature and allows veteran upright monuments west of the feature.

The Veteran’s Field of Honor is a lawn crypt section for veterans and their families. It is located in the highest part of the cemetery along Fairlawn Road overlooking the west Topeka skyline. Lawn crypts are a pre-buried, two-deep burial vault. Markers in this section are a uniform bronze on granite memorial.

The Lincoln Garden Lawn Crypt section is adjacent to the Veteran’s Field of Honor. This section is for those who are not veterans and prefer burial in a lawn crypt. This also requires a bronze on granite memorial.

Both lawn crypt sections face a beautiful marble gazebo. This gazebo is made of Carrarra marble and sets atop the highest point of the cemetery.

Mount Hope also provides needs for pets with full burial, cremation and memorials.