Collection: Oakland Cemetery and Mausoleum - Freeport

Oakland Cemetery was founded in 1901, just three years after the city was incorporated. At that time, the city contained only a small city cemetery located near downtown, the river, and the railroad tracks. Some of the more affluent families in Freeport desired a more picturesque setting for their family estates than what the City Cemetery offered. So Matt Marvin’s ancestors designated a portion of their property for the cemetery on the west side of town, just past Krape Park. That property came to be known as Oakland Cemetery.

Oakland Cemetery’s original design called for two garden burial sections known as Oak Knoll and Sunny Side Gardens. About 400 sets of remains were disinterred from the City Cemetery and reinterred into these gardens. The W. T. Rawleigh Company was founded in Freeport and their family estate is the centerpiece of the cemetery. The estate runs along the Pearl City road frontage and features an Italian white marble monument. The monument is approxi