07/28/2026
June 2, 2027, will mark the 100th anniversary of Arlington Memorial Park. It was on this day, that the local newspapers announced that a group of local men were planning to develop and open a new cemetery on Rockford’s far east side, where the US Grant Highway and Mulford’s Crossing met. People could also reach the cemetery by interurban since it ran past that area since people would ride the line all the way to Elgin. The purposed cemetery was also going to be planned and developed on the memorial park system, the latest style in cemetery planning and the same system Willwood Burial Park used.
The men involved in creating the cemetery were listed in the article. They were Edwin S. Cedarleaf, John Wester, B.B. Early, Hugo L. Olson, and W.A. Brolin. All but one of them were local industrialists. All the industrialists had ties with the Sundstrand companies among their other business and civic pursuits. B. B. Early, the non-industrialist was a local attorney who also served on various local civic boards. The group had recruited M***a I. Payne to assist them; he had served as Willwood’s secretary and superintendent until he was approached by the Arlington group. Besides working for Willwood, he was involved in its organizing. Prior to Willwood, he had worked for a cemetery in Peoria.
Of this group, Edwin S. Cedarleaf, Hugo L. Olson and W.A. Brolin would eventually be buried at Arlington along with M***a I. Payne, the first superintendent. John Wester is buried at Scandinavian Cemetery and B.B. Early is at Greenwood Cemetery.
We will be writing other snippets of history about Arlington Memorial Park and its people over the next several months as we prepare for our 100th anniversary next year.
