Riverside Cemetery General Manager Dorie Tammen received a letter at the end of March from FEMA, informing her there would be no funds coming. After the Times-Republican covered the denial on Thursday, she received a call from the Iowa Homeland Security office, explaining why the cemetery was denied funding. She said he told her there might be a chance to appeal and reverse the decision if Riverside could prove the value of the historical location as something more than just a cemetery.

“If we can quantify how much Marshalltown views this place as a park – even though it’s technically a cemetery it’s treated as a park and people view it as a park and use it as a park – if we can quantify that in some way, it might be a justification for an appeal of the decision,” Tammen said. “I thought about that and the best thing I could think to do was a letter writing campaign. So, we’ll see if we get enough letters.”

She was given a date of May 22 as the deadline to prove Riverside’s case, so all letters need to be sent prior to that.

Tammen posted on the Riverside Facebook page on Saturday asking for people to send letters about their experiences in the cemetery — fishing in the pond, feeding the birds, going for walks and on picnics, sitting on the infamous Death Chair and more — to prove Riverside is more like a city park.

A monument in Riverside Cemetery was used to highlight a much-talked-about but never found list. Rumor is Riverside Cemetery was included on a “10 most beautiful cemeteries” list. But proof never existed until Monday when General Manager Dorie Tammen received a copy of a newspaper clipping from the Des Moines Register with a photo of this monument and a cutline stating the list was in a 1947 edition of Life Magazine.

By Monday morning, she had received nine letters – one which was dropped in the letter slot of the office door.

“We probably get more visitors on a daily basis here than most of the city parks do,” she said.

In addition to people walking, picnicking and feeding birds, Riverside Cemetery hosts headstone cleaning classes, people use the research center to find information about their ancestors and a kids fishing day is held in conjunction with Izaak Walton.

“We get hundreds of people here for that,” Tammen said.

In previous years, she said the Marshalltown Community Theater actors would participate in event walks. They would stand next to graves of well-known Marshalltownians, dressed up as the deceased and would tell the attendees about the life of the person.

The goings-on at the cemetery has been varied through the years. She said there was once a road going through the cemetery called Lover’s Lane, and indeed many couples were caught on the road. Occasionally, Tammen will still encounter couples who have snuck off to the back part of the property.

The historic cemetery has attracted the attention of numerous paranormal investigators through the years, but they are always turned away. Tammen said no one is interested in bringing about negative attention to the property.

“This place is more than just for the dead,” Tammen said. “It’s a place for the living to come. A lot more goes on here than just burials.”

SEND A LETTER:

Letters can be dropped off at the office or mailed to:

Riverside Cemetery

611 N. Center St., Marshalltown, Iowa 50158.

Or sent via email to:

riverside.cemetery@yahoo.com.

——

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.