• Non-Profit Association
• Locally Owned & Operated
• Family Oriented Staff
• Endowment Care Cemetery
• Non-Denominational

Crescent Grove
Cemetery & Mausoleum History

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In 2002, Crescent Grove Cemetery celebrated 150 years in service.
As a local Southwest Community landmark, many of Tigard’s original families are buried
here. It is the oldest
maintained cemetery in
the Portland metro area.

While driving down Greenburg Rd., between Hall Blvd and 217, there is
a lovely well-maintained cemetery

located east of Washington Square. If
you are not looking for it you may not see the charming pioneer historic cemetery. In 2002 Crescent Grove celebrated its 150^th anniversary and visitors coming to the cemetery will find headstones dating as far back as the 1850’s.

Some names on earlier headstones could be taken from a map of the Tigard area, the early generations of Tigards, Gaardes, Greenburgs, Frewings, Tuefels, Barneses, Elsners and Halls are buried in the cemetery to name a few. The cemetery was part of the Davis land grant, the original area of cleared ground was in a crescent shape which gave the cemetery its name and it is one of the oldest historic pioneer cemeteries in the Portland Metro area. 

Around 1929, Henry Erickson whose farm adjoined the cemetery land that is now Washington Square, started maintaining the grounds and hand digging the graves. When Henry died in 1964 the Croft family took over as caretakers of the cemetery and did so until 1994. At the present time the cemetery has a five member board who are elected by the members of the Crescent Grove Cemetery Association to oversee the cemetery, there is a general manager and a staff of 3 that operate the cemetery on a daily basis. 

The cemetery now occupies 21 acres, which includes mausoleum crypts and traditional ground burial for casket placement, niches, urn and scatter gardens for cremated remains. Crescent Grove Cemetery puts a percentage of each sales of the grave or cremation space into the Endowment Care Fund providing future funds for cemetery maintenance.

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A stroll through the grounds reveals some interesting historical footnotes. The cemetery contains one sarcophagus, which reads, “Mary A. Bryan 1816-1898. Gone, But Not Forgotten.” Some graves are inscribed with exactly how long the person lived such as “Charles Wood son of Edward and Ann M. Wood Died Feb 10, 1978 19 years, 11 months and 28 days.” Another tombstone reads, “Gone Home” and has a finger pointing to the heavens.

For information about other historical sites in Tigard, OR, click here.

It was reported that during a major windstorm in the mid 1990's a huge tree crashed down, lining up precisely between near rows of tombstones and harming nary a one.

Wilson Tigard, who settled in Washington County, Oregon, and gave his name to first the town of Tigardville, which later became Tigard. For more info on this pioneer's account of the travel, click here.

Grave Markers of: John Gaarde and Charles Tigard.

Phone: (503) 639-5347