Conrad Cemetery named to historic register

The cemetery named for Kalispell founder Charles E. Conrad now has an official place in history.

A decade after the nomination process first began, the 110-year-old C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Trustees of the cemetery association will be presented with the registration certificate at an awards ceremony Jan. 18 in Helena.

Research into the history of the site began when the cemetery crossed the century mark in 2002. Local historian Kathy McKay was asked to go through cemetery records to compile a formal history of the site.

Cemetery sexton James Korn said he used McKay’s notes and added his own research into the personal stories of many of the early pioneers and others buried there to form the basis for the expansive application for the National Register designation.

Ellen Baumler, an interpretive historian at the Montana Historical Society in Helena, along with advice from the Historic Preservation Office, enabled Korn and the trustees to complete the application.

Located on a knoll overlooking the Flathead Valley near the eastern edge of Kalispell, the cemetery was established by Conrad’s widow, Alicia “Lettie” Conrad, after his death in 1902. But Charles Conrad himself had a visionary role in the process.

A few days before his death, he directed the purchase of the 10 acres surrounding the scenic point and began to plan the Conrad Mausoleum, even sketching how he wanted it to look.

During the 1890s, as the fledgling city of Kalispell was growing, the only burial ground was the old cemetery at Demersville. It became obvious the town needed its own cemetery.

But time was running out for Charles Conrad, who had battled diabetes for 10 years.

“He knew the end was near one fine sunny autumn afternoon in 1902 when he and Lettie rode their hoses out to the promontory,” the National Register application states. It was a favorite spot for the Conrads. They had visited the spot where the land narrows to a point many times and had always found it breathtaking as they overlooked the Whitefish and Stillwater rivers.

“Charles had not expressed his burial wishes until this time. He told his wife he wanted to be buried at this point, saying that there could be no more peaceful and lovely a spot for a place of final rest,” the application narrative notes.

After her husband’s death, Lettie Conrad quickly put the wheels in motion, asking the family’s attorney, G.H. Grubb, to purchase the entire 104 acres in that area. She also persuaded Grubb to prepare a bill for the Montana Legislature that created a perpetual care system for cemeteries throughout the state.

The legislation provided for an interest-bearing fund to be built up by setting aside a certain percentage of the sale price of each lot, assuring that burial grounds could be maintained perpetually after all of a cemetery's lots were sold. 

“She had a great vision that the land could serve as a resting place for all the people of Kalispell, regardless of income or social status, for now and for their future generations,” the application says.

Just as inspiring as Lettie Conrad’s efforts is the classic rural garden landscape design of the cemetery. She and her youngest daughter, Alicia, visited cemeteries across the country and in Canada and Mexico to find the right design.

A.W. Hobert of Minneapolis, a landscape architect and superintendent of the famed Lakewood Cemetery, designed the Conrad Cemetery with a park-like setting, featuring sweeps of expansive lawns “studded with inconspicuous embedded markers, providing a stunning framework for the Conrad Mausoleum and the stones and upright monuments that are spread over the grounds.”

According to James Murphy’s book, “Half Interest in a Silver Dollar,” Hobert told Lettie Conrad, “I cannot improve upon God’s architecture. My advice is to disturb as little as possible. Do not move a shovelful of earth that is not necessary. You already have one of the most beautiful cemetery sites in the world.”

Modern-day landscape architects still marvel at the design. Pathways in a looping design wind throughout the grounds and trees are grouped to provide shade yet preserve the views.

Korn has researched 68 of the roughly 18,000 people buried at Conrad Cemetery. He has incorporated 40 of those personal stories into walking tours he conducts during the summer.

“I’ve tried to stay with the pioneers,” Korn said. “I took the names I had and made two tours, and I plan to do more tours and cover more of the cemetery.”

Tours were sporadically done before Korn became sexton a decade ago.

Among the more well-known people buried at the cemetery are Fred Herrig, who worked as a cow puncher on President Theodore Roosevelt’s North Dakota ranch and served under Roosevelt as a Rough Rider in the Cuba campaign; and Arthur Merrifield, another of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders who ranched together with Roosevelt. 

When Merrifield later moved to the Flathead Valley, Roosevelt came to visit him here and also visited the Conrads.

Other prominent people interred there are Frank Bird Linderman, a politician and author who wrote volumes on Indian lore; Lillian Peterson, a longtime school superintendent whose namesake is remembered locally at Peterson School; and Montana Gov. John E. Erickson, who served as governor from 1925 to 1933.

The cemetery association continues to be operated by a board of five trustees, as outlined in the 1905 legislation. Serving presently on the board are John T. Keith, Bob Brown, Sue O’Neil Schottelkorb, Jeffrey Ellingson and Cheryl Cockrell Hatton.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.