Repairs on Grand Rapids' oldest mausoleum come nearly a decade after damages, thanks to a GRCF grant

Nearly a decade after a tree limb smashed into the tomb of Sylvester Melville, the Grand Rapids Historic Preservation Commission can finally move forward with restoring what is thought to be Grand Rapids’ oldest mausoleum, estimated to have been built in the 1870s. 

Thanks to a $10,000 Grand Rapids Community Foundation grant, repairs to the historic site at 647 Hall Street SE will include a new slate roof and reinstallation of salvaged brick and stonework. Midtown Craftsman, Grand River Builders, and Milhiem Masonry are donating labor, as well as some materials, to finish the restoration project that began in 2010 when volunteers stabilized the mausoleum’s walls and salvaged the old building materials for future restoration. 

Past Perfect, Inc. Principal Rebecca Smith-Hoffman has worked closely as a consultant with HPC organizers and volunteers on the restoration efforts in the historic Oak Hill Cemetery, and says construction work should kick off in November and has to be finished before the harsh winter weather really kicks in. 

“Getting it done before winter kicks in is crucial,” Smith-Hoffman says. “It’s a fairly small building. It’s been stabilized already, but we were just looking for funding (since then.) However, there has been a lot of time donated by a lot of different people.”

The historic Oak Hill Cemetery is the burial site for some of GRCF’s early leaders, including founder Lee M. Hutchins and early chairman Melville R. Bissell, Jr. 

Smith-Hoffman says restoring the Melville Mausoleum is an important part of preserving a big piece of Grand Rapids’ history. 

“Any kind of perseveration, of course, is the most sustainable thing we can be doing,” she says. “Here in Grand Rapids, we’re preserving whole neighborhoods. This is just another little piece of our history that is extremely important.”

Written by Anya Zentmeyer, Development News Editor