At the intersection of Broadway and Citrus Avenues in the city of Whittier, sits a quiet park with a rather macabre history. If you walk up to one of two markers found at the park, that history is made clear: Founders Memorial Park sits atop the final resting place of some of Whittier’s earliest residents.
In the late 1880s, Two cemeteries were founded right across the street from each other by Willet Dorland; Broadway and Mt. Olive. Records show that Broadway contained 926 burials, with the majority occurring prior to 1910, while Mt. Olive had 365 burials, with most taking place prior to 1937.
For many years Willet’s widowed daughter was the caretaker of the cemeteries. However, after her passing in 1940, the grounds fell into disrepair.
Whittier officials erected a fence to keep vandals out, but eventually the cemeteries became too overgrown and run-down. The city declared them a nuisance and closed them in 1959 and spent the following decade clearing the cemeteries and attempting to contact surviving family of the interred. Some relocated the remains, a few decided not to disturb their loved ones, while others could not be located.
The remaining headstones were removed and placed in storage, the cemetery was covered with fill dirt and leveled, and Founders Memorial Park opened in 1968, just 10 years after the last burial.
The headstones were initially stored on the grounds of Pio Pico State Park, but were then moved to the Whittier Museum in 2001. However, a re-use project for them could not be found and the stacks of stones became a safety hazard, so the majority were transferred to a private owner in 2015. Only 10 historically significant headstones remain in storage or on display at the museum.
While the headstones are no longer there, Founders Memorial Park maintains many of the features of the cemeteries. The street that separates them is no longer called Cemetery Ave, but the flow of the pathways and the trees are original to the graveyards…..and of course, true to its namesake, many of Whittier’s founding citizens still remain.
References:
“Our Spooky History: Founders Memorial Park” article by Candi Nash