The cemetery was platted in 1856 by several eminent citizens, including Judge Daniel McLain, who had previously owned the land. Although its original boundaries encompassed , the area was soon tripled. As soon as the cemetery was properly organized in a legal fashion, it was devised to the city and to Union Township. Colonel Samuel N. Yeoman, a former forty-niner and Civil War veteran, established the cemetery; he participated in planning its layout and served as its first president. Under the leadership of superintendents W.B. Ely, James Holmes, and George Gossard, the cemetery was converted from an ordinary burial ground into a garden cemetery of a sort little seen in Ohio except in the large cities. Some of the leading components of its design are the winding driveways, artificial lakes, rare shrubs and trees, and a fountain that was placed in 1892. Two of the most prominent buildings in the cemetery are its mausoleum (originally known as the "Washington Memorial") and its chapel (originally the "Doctor Judy Memorial"; now known as the "Judy Chapel"), which were constructed in 1914 and 1905 respectively.