Claremont's Historic Cemetery to be Expanded

Claremont’s century old Oak Park Cemetery is ready to grow as preparations to expand it are finalized.

On July 24, Claremont’s City Council awarded a $400,197 contract to New Legacy Development Corp. to develop just an under acre of property on the north end of Oak Park.

The development is expected to add 732 in-ground burial spaces and 300 cremation spaces on a pre fabricated niche wall that will be installed near the facility’s offices, city officials said.

The project was expected to bring in more trees, at least 11 of them, to the city-owned memorial park, city officials said. The cemetery is at 410 South Sycamore Ave.

“We’re currently finalizing some preliminary work that includes some tree removal and brush clearance from the site,” Kristin Turner, Community and Human Services Manager with Claremont. City staff is also working with Southern California Edison to reroute utilities.

Once that is completed, the city plans to bring in the contractor to begin grading the area, Turner said. The goal is to begin that work by early September, she said.

The Friends of Oak Park Cemetery have been working on this project for at lease five years, according to online city documents.

“The existing developed cemetery is slowly filling and there’s property to the north and there is a master plan to develop that for Oak Park,” Turner said.

The 10-acre park is more than 100 years old and is the final resting place for many of the city’s early residents including Eleanor Condit, a devoted educator in the city, Thomas Barrows, Lee Pitzer and George G. Hitchcock.