The Mountain View Cemetery is a large 226-acre (91 ha) cemetery in Oakland, Alameda County, California. It was established in 1863 by a group of East Bay pioneers under the California Rural Cemetery Act of 1859. The association they formed still operates the cemetery today. Mountain View was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who also designed New York City's Central Park and much of UC Berkeley and Stanford University.
Many of California's important historical figures, drawn by Olmsted's reputation, are buried here, and there are so many grandiose crypts in tribute to the wealthy that one section is known as "Millionaires' Row." Because of this, and its beautiful setting, the cemetery is a tourist draw and docents lead semi-monthly tours.
Olmsted's intent was to create a space that would express a harmony between humankind and the natural setting. In the view of 19th century English and American romantics, park-like cemeteries, such as Mountain View, represented the peace of nature, to which humanity's soul returns. Olmsted, drawing upon the concepts of American Transcendentalism, integrated Parisian grand monuments and broad avenues.
Adjoining Mountain View Cemetery is Saint Mary Cemetery and the Chapel of the Chimes mausoleum and columbarium.
There are many notable people interred in Mountain View, many are local figures in California history, but others have achieved wider fame.
Politicians and government officials
Washington Bartlett, Mayor of San Francisco 1882–1884, Governor of California 1887Coles Bashford, Governor of Wisconsin and Arizona Territory politicianLeonard W. Buck (1834-1895), rancher, California state senator.Warren B. English, US Representative(D) California
John B. Felton, Mayor of Oakland (1869–1870)William M. Gwin, one of California's first SenatorsHenry H. Haight (1825–1878), Governor of California 1867–1871William Knowland, U.S. Senator, Publisher - Oakland TribuneAdolphus Frederic St. Sure, Federal JudgeSamuel Merritt, early Mayor of OaklandRomualdo Pacheco, Governor of California 1875George Pardee, Governor of California 1903–1907George C. Perkins, Governor of California 1880–1883; U.S. Senator, 1893–1915.Industrialists and business people
Warren A. Bechtel, industrialist, founder of the Bechtel companyAnthony Chabot, father of hydraulic mining and benefactor of Chabot Space & Science CenterCharles Crocker, railroad magnate, bankerWilliam E. Dargie, Owner - Oakland TribuneFrederick Delger, German shoemaker and multimillionaireFreda Ehrmann, mother of the California ripe olive industryJ. A. Folger, founder of Folgers CoffeePeter Folger, American coffee heir, socialiteDomingo Ghirardelli, namesake of the Ghirardelli Chocolate CompanyA.K.P. Harmon, lumber and shipping magnate, secretary Oakland Tribune Publishing CompanyHenry J. Kaiser, father of modern American shipbuildingIngemar Henry Lundquist, mechanical engineer, and inventor of over the wire balloon angioplastyC.O.G. Miller, head of Pacific Gas Lighting CorporationIsaac Requa, made fortune in the Comstock Lode and railroadsJoe Shoong, Chinese immigrant and founder of the National Dollar Stores chainFrancis Marion Smith, the "Borax King"Charles Miner Goodall, Co-Founder of the Pacific Coast Steamship CompanyLewis Bradbury, a gold-mining millionaire who owned the Tajo Mine in Mexico, and later became a real estate developerBrigadier General Henry Brevard Davidson of the Confederate States ArmyJohn Coffee Hays, Texas Ranger and first sheriff of San FranciscoEli L. Huggins, Indian Wars soldier and Medal of Honor recipientHenry T. Johns, American Civil War soldier and Medal of Honor recipientRalph Wilson Kirkham, Union Army generalOscar Fitzalan Long, Indian Wars soldier and Medal of Honor recipientRossell O'Brien, American Civil War veteran who started the custom of standing and removing one's hat during the national anthemJeremiah C. Sullivan, Union Army general and staff member of Ulysses S. GrantAdam Weissel, United States Navy sailor and Medal of Honor recipientArts and Culture
Leandro Campanari, Italian-American violinist, conductor, composer and music teacher.Herbert A. Collins, landscape and portrait artistIna Coolbrith, California's first poet laureateAndre Hicks (aka Mac Dre), Northern California RapperThomas Hill, artistWilliam Keith, California landscape artistBernard Maybeck, architectJulia Morgan, architectFrank Norris, authorFloyd Salas, authorDouglas Tilden, sculptorMalonga Casquelord, Congolese dancer, drummer, choreographer and founder of Fua Dia Congo.Edson Adams, laid out the city of OaklandRev. Benjamin Akerly, pioneer Episcopalian cleric of the Bay Area, performed the dedication of Mountain View Cemetery and officiated hundreds of its burialsMoses Chase, believed to be the first American to settle in the East Bay areaDavid D. Colton, namesake of the city of Colton, CaliforniaAlexander Dunsmuir, builder of the Dunsmuir HouseRev. Henry Durant, first president of the University of California, BerkeleyJoseph Stickney Emery, founder of Emeryville, CaliforniaAnna Head, founder of the Head-Royce SchoolJane K. Sather, donor of Sather Gate and Sather Tower to the University of California, BerkeleyFrancis K. Shattuck, prominent in the politics and early development of Alameda County, Oakland and Berkeley.John Swett, Founder of the California Public School System.Charles Lee Tilden, namesake of Tilden Regional ParkVolney V. Ashford, exiled revolutionaryCloe Annette Buckel, one of the first female doctors in CaliforniaGlenn Burke, first openly gay player in Major League BaseballHenry D. Cogswell, dentist and temperance movement crusaderMarcus Foster, first Black Superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District in Oakland, California, first victim of the Symbionese Liberation ArmyDavid Hewes, who provided the "Golden Spike"Bobby Hutton, first treasurer of the Black Panther PartyFred Korematsu, challenged Executive Order 9066 in the landmark Supreme Court case Korematsu v. United StatesJoseph LeConte, co-founder of the Sierra ClubJohn Marsh, first American doctor in California, also helped spur transcontinental wagon travelJohn Norton Pomeroy, law professor at Hastings College of the LawWilliam T. Shorey, the only African-American whaling captain on the Pacific coastElizabeth Short, unsolved Hollywood murder victim known as the Black DahliaJosiah Stanford, older brother of Leland Stanford and ran Stanford WineryThere is one British Commonwealth war grave, of Pilot Officer James Raymond Lippi, an American born member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, who died in 1942. Lippi was born in Santa Cruz, California and went to Canada to enlist for World War II.