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Mainly clear skies. Low around 65F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph..

Mainly clear skies. Low around 65F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph.

The exterior of the cemetery museum.

The carriage doors outside of the cemetery museum.

The inside of the cemetery museum.

The carriage doors inside of the cemetery museum.

The Northern exterior of the museum.

Railing displays inside the Southern part of the cemetery museum.

The Southern exterior of the museum.

The West side of the museum.

Court benches and windows inside of the cemetery museum.

Chairs inside of the Northern part of the cemetery museum.

The South side of the cemetery museum’s exterior.

The exterior of the cemetery museum.

The carriage doors outside of the cemetery museum.

The inside of the cemetery museum.

The carriage doors inside of the cemetery museum.

The Northern exterior of the museum.

Railing displays inside the Southern part of the cemetery museum.

The Southern exterior of the museum.

The West side of the museum.

Court benches and windows inside of the cemetery museum.

Chairs inside of the Northern part of the cemetery museum.

The South side of the cemetery museum’s exterior.

Cemetery Office/Chapel/Maintenance Building:

The larger stone building on the west side of the middle of the cemetery is the former cemetery office/chapel/maintenance building. In 1935 IERA (Iowa Emergency Relief Administration) workmen under the leadership of Foreman Frank Walz constructed the beautiful new stone structure. The building was originally conceived by Sexton Will Light, and his efforts brought the plan to a reality. Engineer Harry Badley designed the structure, and Mason Lawrence Schwenk contributed a great deal to the durability and beauty of the project using his artistry with stone and concrete.

When completed, the shelter house was planned to contain two rooms: one of them to “serve as a garage and tool room; the other to be equipped with a fireplace and suitably furnished so as to be available as a chapel for funeral services at the cemetery in inclement weather.” Neither the partition nor the fireplace was apparently completed.

The existence of IERA made possible the erection of such a structure at low cost to the community. The IERA furnished the labor and $286 worth of materials. The community (partly through the Odd Fellows cemetery committee) furnished the foreman and the balance of the materials at a cost estimated by Foreman Walz at about $450.

This replaced an earlier tool house. The old bandstand, which had been an unsightly object in the courthouse park for years, had been removed to the cemetery in 1905, where it was fixed up and used for the tool house until 1935. Until 2017 the 1935 building was used as the cemetery office and maintenance storage building.

In 2017 the Carroll Historic Preservation Commission (CHPC) modified the 1935 building into the Carroll Cemetery Museum. The stone structure is part of the architectural ‘identity’ of Carroll as in the cemetery gates and wall, the Swan Lake State Park entry, the Graham Park bridges and entryways, the Merchants Park pillars, and the cemetery war memorials. Besides preserving a piece of local history, this project was planned to provide a place of reflection and meditation, a shelter for cemetery walkers in inclement weather, and a source of education about the history of the City and Catholic Cemeteries.

The stone building has a brown-shingled gable roof that was installed in 1995. This new roof was built over the base of the original 1935 roof, preserving its stone border inside the structure. Two of the three interior drainpipes used by the original roof still stand inside two corners of the building.

The east side of the Cemetery Museum has two nine-pane, black metal-framed windows on either side of a white, wooden paneled door with a timed lock. The north and south sides each have similar windows. The west side has two six-pane, black metal-framed windows and a wooden blue and gray double carriage door.

In the Fall/Winter of 2017, the CHPC presented their plan to the City Manager, Parks and Recreation Director, and City Council members; requested funding; and contacted organizations, community groups, and private donors. With the help of Sexton John Snyder and the cemetery workers, inside the building they replaced and puttied six multi-paned windows with clear glass panes; cleaned the floor, walls, and rafters; capped pipes; and removed burners and equipment.

Outside, the workers removed propane tanks and fencing, moved broken gravestones, did groundwork and soil enhancement, and added a downspout to the southeast corner. They replaced the modern overhead metal garage door on the west side with wooden carriage doors, similar to the original doors, constructed by Nate Nagl. City workers replaced the sidewalk on the east side to make it ADA compliant.

In Spring 2018 the Historic Preservation Commission created historical displays of articles, photos, maps of the cemetery, brochures about cemetery monuments, and a plaque with project donors’ names; and painted window frames inside and out. They installed two courthouse benches loaned from the Carroll County Museum; communion railings, a brass radiator grate, and a stained glass window from the old St. Anthony Hospital chapel; a brass plate, photos, and information from the former County Home and WPA projects; two stained glass windows and a church light from Sts. Peter and Paul Church; and two Knights of Columbus chairs. City workers also replaced the metal east door with a paneled wooden door similar to the 1935 door.

Outside they landscaped the north, east, and south sides of the building with perennials and low maintenance bushes and installed a donated concrete bench on a concrete pad outside the east door to replace the old wooden bench. The Cemetery Museum opened on Memorial Day in 2018. Visitors can access the museum with the posted combination for the timed lock.

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