CLEVELAND — After nearly ten months of work that shut down the President James Garfield Memorial in Lake View Cemetery, the final resting place of the 20th President is back open to the public.
This was the final phase of a $7 million three-phase project that started in 2016. It included the removal of the monument’s first 20 steps to repair the underpinnings for more support.
“With each step put back in place just as it was originally,” said Kathy Goss, Lake View Cemetery’s President and CEO, at the start of the work last summer. “What we wanted to avoid is a shift in the structure; we really didn't want the leaning tower of Pisa here."
"The first 20 steps coming into the building are all going to be removed, and the underpinning of the steps are going to be repaired for more support. Each step will be put back in place just as it was originally," she said.
The steps have all been replaced, the 1980s-era railing on them was also replaced with an iron version more true to the late 1800s and the stone pavers on the outside terrace have been replaced as well.
“There's a membrane layer underneath that was once holding back water that was seeping inside the building," Goss said. "The surface that we're putting back on that is like a roofing surface technically, and it's going to be monolithic finish, so we won't have to worry about wobbly pavers."
One of the highlights of the work has been the ability to re-open the upstairs balcony to the public, which had been closed for several years.
“So this is one of the coolest parts of the project: the upstairs balcony, which has been closed for years, is now open to the public. I’ve covered this story for years; I’m seeing it for the first time.”
“I’m ecstatic,” said Christopher Vinci of Cleveland, who stopped in during a jog Wednesday. “It’s wonderful it’s finally open; I can finally get my friends to come over to see this thing that I’ve been telling them for years, but they have been able to see.”
He said when he looks out, he sees more than the city; he sees his family heritage.
“My family’s been here since like the 1800s; I’m all Italian,” Vinci said. “You can see Little Italy, you can see Cleveland Clinic, you can see the lake, downtown, Tower City, you can see everything Case, everything that has to do with the beginning of my family in the city. It’s all there.”
“This building is very important to me,” he added. “When people refer to this building, they always say, ‘Have you seen Garfield’s tomb?’ And I always tell them it’s not a tomb, it’s a castle with one of the best views of Cleveland.”
Since the steps were the only way inside visitors can once again enjoy its magnificence as well. Garfield was killed by an assassin in 1881, the second of four U.S. presidents to die that way. It’s been said that of all of the final resting places of American presidents, this is truly one of if not the most majestic, from the grandeur of Memorial Hall featuring the statue of Garfield, red granite columns and a gold mosaic ceiling to the crypt beneath containing the caskets of Garfield and his wife.
It left Gary Stanko of Lorain in awe.
“I mean, it’s something you’ll probably be never built again you know, and I really think we need to appreciate it,” Stanko said. “You can just see the workmanship and the pride in the workmanship that went into this.”
The Memorial is now open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
