City Vault
Coffin Storage
Cemetery Marker Number
Date of Birth
Date Of Death
Cemetery Location
42
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Block Ra
About the Oakland Cemetery City Vault
Written by Angela Gates
The city vault at Oakland Cemetery has served many purposes since its completion in 1872. One of the original intentions for the space was a temporary resting place for the deceased. During winter, graves were dug infrequently due to frozen ground, so a recently deceased individual would find a home in the vault until the spring thaw when a grave could be property prepared. The city vault could also house the recently deceased while their permanent space was being prepared, a mausoleum for example. M. S. Magoun, one of Oakland's permanent residents, utilized the city vault from October of 1878 to April 1879 at the rate of $2 per month. As technology evolved, techniques were developed to prepare a grave in any weather, so this reason for utilizing the city vault faded over time. Most recently however, the city vault space is a storage space and frequent source of curiosity for visitors to Oakland
Cemetery.
