Maple Grove Cemetery was Wichita’s second official cemetery when it was established directly across the street from Highland Cemetery. Highland was the only publicly available burial option in town until Maple Grove appeared.

Maple Grove Cemetery was founded in 1888, but there are numerous graves here that pre-date that, and burials occurred here before the cemetery was platted or had company ownership.

At sixty acres with room to grow, Maple Grove is one of Wichita’s largest cemeteries. There are approximately 27,000 people buried at this cemetery, many of whom made significant contributions to Wichita, including two of the men who made Maple Grove Cemetery a reality.

A.A. Hyde, Maple Grove Cemetery Founder

Albert Alexander Hyde was born in Massachusetts and was a descendant of one of the 51 original Mayflower pilgrims. After serving as the cashier of a Leavenworth bank, Hyde came to Wichita around 1872 to be the cashier of Wichita Savings Bank. Later, Hyde would serve as the cashier of the Farmers & Merchant Bank (Kansas National Bank) in Wichita. As a cashier, Hyde was admired for his “promptitude and business integrity.”

Young A.A. Hyde. Image courtesy Edward & Elizabeth Burns Historical Research Pavilion, Wichita Public Library.

In addition to being a banker, Hyde was also a businessman. He built a general store and a pleasure resort in Butler County, and in Wichita he operated a bookstore called Hyde & Humble. He also invested in real estate, purchasing a large area of land east of downtown Wichita, now known as the Hyde Neighborhood.

Hyde was of the opinion that Highland Cemetery was “poorly laid out” and old fashioned, a sentiment also shared by others. He thought that Wichita was deserving of a more beautiful cemetery, and he may have also seen the cemetery business as a real estate opportunity. Highland’s owners weren’t interested in investing in improvements or changes, so Hyde decided to start a cemetery of his own.

Young A.A. Hyde. Image courtesy Edward & Elizabeth Burns Historical Research Pavilion, Wichita Public Library.

With the help of fellow banker and business magnate George C. Strong, Hyde purchased a 70 acre sheep farm from a pioneer and farmer named David Fox, which just happened to be located across the road from Highland Cemetery. Strong’s daughter was among the first to be buried at Maple Grove.

A.A. Hyde’s signature on the original Maple Grove plat map. Source

There were many people who weren’t happy with the location of the new cemetery, especially after Highland Cemetery was sold to and temporarily managed by Hyde. “The heartless corporation who owns the new cemetery across the street” was accused of allowing Highland Cemetery to fall into disrepair while under their management, purportedly an effort to encourage people to buy lots at Maple Grove instead.

“The ladies of the Highland Cemetery improvement associate were on the war path this morning. They seemed to have an idea that the new heartless corporation who owns the new cemetery wants the weeds to grow over the graves of their beloved dead, in the old cemetery, so they could sell more lots in the new cemetery.”

The Wichita Beavon, March 9, 1899

Many Wichitans owned lots at Highland, but after Maple Grove was established, they abandoned their burial plots at the old cemetery and purchased plots at the more prestigious Maple Grove instead. Some even moved the graves of their loved ones across the street.

With help from investors, friends, and perhaps more than a shred of shrewd business practices, Hyde is credited with transforming Fox’s sheep farm into a beautifully landscaped and picturesque final resting place deemed suitably beautiful for Wichita.

Fox (not David) at sunset.

While Hyde played a major role in the founding of Maple Grove Cemetery, he is most well-known for creating Mentholatum, a product that can be found in many households worldwide today. He founded the company after losing most of his wealth in the real estate crash of 1889.

The original Mentholatum building. Writing on the back reads “First 50 gross order of Mentholatum. George Simons, in his younger days, ready to load the same.” Photo probably taken around 1895, when the first commercial orders of Mentholatum began to ship. Source

Journalist and lecturer Beccy Tanner informs us that Hyde “promoted women, provided day care services and encouraged vacations long before other corporations saw the need.” His wife Ida was given 10% ownership in The Yucca Co., the original name of the Mentholatum company. Another woman was given 2% ownership for her late husband’s contribution to the packaging idea. He named streets in the Hyde neighborhood after important women in his life (Ida, Laura, Lulu, Pattie, and Fannie).

Ida (née Todd) and A.A. Hyde. Image courtesy Edward & Elizabeth Burns Historical Research Pavilion, Wichita Public Library.

Hyde made a lot of money off of Mentholatum, but was said to have become disillusioned with wealth. His grandson Dr. John Hyde said that A.A. believed he had “no special talent that deserved such a financial reward,” and in retirement he demonstrated “stewardship of wealth.”

Hyde believed that if he died rich, he would die disgraced, After his retirement in 1914, he followed “the Carnegie plan” and dedicated the rest of his life to giving his fortune away to educational, religious, and benevolent organizations. Hyde Elementary, Hyde Park, the Hyde Neighborhood, The Hyde (formerly Kellogg School), and Camp Hyde are all named in his honor.

A.A. Hyde and his wife Ida are buried at Maple Grove Cemetery with a modest grave marker and a view of rival Highland Cemetery across the street.

Albert Ellis, Maple Grove Cemetery Designer

Albert Ellis was born in 1850 in Vermont and spent part of his adult life in New Hampshire. He came to Wichita in 1887 with considerable experience in elegant landscape design, and ran ads offering to design lawns using “the famous Central Park lawn grass which makes the finest lawn in the world.”

Source

Ellis was hired by A.A. Hyde to design the cemetery, and he was said to have been referred for the job by Mark Twain after designing the famous author’s garden.

The Victorian garden plan Ellis designed for Maple Grove Cemetery featured expansive and meandering paths across swales and waterways and was meant to establish Maple Grove as “the finest cemetery between the Mississippi River and the Rockies.” Ellis also ran a greenhouse where he grew flowers and plants for the cemetery.

Maple Grove Cemetery plat from 1888 with hand drawn cemetery map. Source

During his time in Wichita, Ellis designed gardens for several of Wichita’s elite, was the landscape architect for Fairmount University (now Wichita State University), and later served as the landscape architect for all Wichita parks, a role he held until his death in 1932.

Sandwiched in between the important women in Hyde’s life, Ellis Street in the Hyde Neighborhood was named for Albert Ellis.

Source

Albert is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery with his first wife Ella (née Weed) and his second wife Laverna (née Koeneke), who got sick four days after their wedding and died just twelve days later.

Other Burials at Maple Grove Cemetery

There are numerous intriguing gravestones and interesting people buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.

Frank Taylor was manager of the Wichita Casket Company, a company that provided caskets to Kansans, Oklahomans, and Texans in the early 1900’s. Taylor died in 1910 and rests in this mausoleum with his wife Matilda, who died in 1939. The private mausoleum is in a peaceful and wooded area along the cemetery’s edge.

Hiram Kendle, Wichita undertaker from 1880-1897, “dropped dead on the street” in 1907. His daughter, Nina, was originally buried at Highland in 1878 and then was later reinterred at Maple Grove.

Hiram was a member of the Woodmen of the World and his gravestone bears their mark and motto “dum tacet clamet,” or “though silent he speaks.”

Wichita founder, hunter, and trader James R. Mead owned a lot at Highland but opted to be buried at Maple Grove instead. The Mead family mausoleum was constructed in 1911 after his death. His son Bunnie oversaw the construction and ensured the Egyptian-inspired mausoleum met Mead’s specifications.

Mead’s second wife Lucy (née Inman) remains buried at Highland Cemetery, but he has several other family members with him here with him in the mausoleum, including Bunnie and his recently deceased grandson Dr. Schuyler Mead Jones, who some believe was the inspiration for Indiana Jones.

The Old Soldier’s Circle is a pavilion surrounded by the gravestones of eighty-four Civil War soldiers. It was erected by the Women’s Relief Corps and dedicated in 1900. Union soldiers of all races are buried in this circle, significant since Maple Grove is a segregated cemetery. The last burial in the circle was a member of the U.S. Colored Infantry in 1934.

The statue adorning the Smith family monument is prominent near the cemetery entrance, but the Smith men were shoe salespeople and not necessarily a prominent family.

Edward Smith died in 1886 was originally buried at Highland Cemetery but was moved here shortly after Maple Grove opened. His father Robert died in1900 is also buried here, but only his initials are inscribed on the stone.

RHS can be seen above the blank area where Robert’s name should be.

The Hattie Waller statue is probably Maple Grove’s most well-known grave marker. The statue at Maple Grove is a replica, the original is on display at the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum. You can read more about Hattie and her statue here.

Maple Grove has two sundial grave markers, both for women. Lucetta “was the most widely known woman in Wichita” before she died in 1919. She was said to hold “the record for the largest [newspaper and magazine] subscription list of anyone in the world,” and she donated her personal library, valued at over $10,000, to Fairmount University (now Wichita State University). Her original flat grave marker states that she was “a noble woman, God’s greatest gift to man. She devoted her life to the uplift of humanity. Love and duty her only creed.” Among her final wishes was to have a sundial placed at the foot of her grave, which was done in 1998.

This sundial placed in 1998 was “a gift of Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, Wichita Bibliophiles and Wichita State University Library Associates in honor of Lucetta Carter.”

The other sundial is for Elizabeth Hodgson, a teacher at North High School and the head of their English department. She also attended Fairmount University (Wichita State University) and was involved with the YWCA. She died in 1940 after struggling with a lingering illness. A bound book of 60 of her original poems was gifted to the Wichita Public Library in 1941.

“Light follows darkness”

Wichita’s ice cream man Nick Steffen and rancher James Ellis were both killed after being struck by a train on Douglas. The tracks were elevated after the accident, and Wichita’s Union Station and the elevated railway are Wichita landmarks. You can read more about Nick, James, and the elevated railway here.

The cover of my book, Buried Wichita, Kansas: A Midwestern Death Trip, is from Maple Grove Cemetery. This small statue adorns the grave of William Bonwell, leader of the American Racing Pigeon Union and founder of what is now the American Pigeon Museum & Library in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The same statue can be found at a cemetery in Washington and was featured on the cover of American Cemetery & Cremation Magazine in March 2024.

The Christmas Day fire in 1951 that killed five children may have been the worst holiday tragedy Wichita has ever seen, and at the the time it was the second worst fire in Wichita history. Johnie (age 9), Maybelle (age 7), Mary (age 5), Emma (age 3), and Ardies (age 1) were burned alive in the family home.

Their parents were unable to save all the children and suffered from burns and smoke injuries from trying. Two of their children were rescued by an unidentified man who rushed in the house and pulled them from the fire before the house collapsed.

The Wichita Eagle, December 28, 1951

Unmarked Burials at Maple Grove Cemetery

Ella Earnest (née Ruffin) died of a morphine overdose after living an interesting (and tragic) life. She was buried in an unmarked grave, abandoned by her family. You can read more about Ella here.

Several limbs belonging to different men are buried here. The right leg of Earl Brown, the left arm of Frank Smith, and a leg belonging to Robert Kinsey are all buried here in unmarked graves.

The Wichita Beacon, January 22, 1915

Records show that the first burial at Maple Grove was in October 1888 for Sarah Elma Dumont. She was the sixteen-year-old daughter of Mary Ellen (née Bruner) and Elbert Dumont. Elbert was part of the team Terry & Dumont, architects for the Carey House (now Eaton Place), the Biting Building, and the never completed John Bright University. I have not found a gravestone for her, and none has been documented on Find a Grave.

Mausoleum at Maple Grove Cemetery

Maple Grove Abbey, completed in 1915, was made of cut Carthage stone and semi-vitrified paving block. Like many of our local mausoleums, it is finished inside with Vermont marble. The mausoleum is open to visitors just a few days a year.