Construction for a cremation garden on campus is anticipated to begin within the next year.

ISU campus planners have been considering the idea for the past two years. The Iowa Board of Regents approved the idea in early June for an addition to the Iowa State Cemetery that will allow more opportunities for individuals to make the university their final resting place.

The current Iowa State Cemetery has been active since 1876, and is home to more than 700 graves. It takes up 1.7 acres on the northwest corner of campus in the Pammel Woods.

Six past university presidents and an acting president are currently buried at the cemetery, along with numerous ISU administrators, faculty, staff and their children. At least two former students, five veterans of war and a former ISU night watchman and her dog are buried there, according to the university. 

Iowa State has made numerous upgrades to the cemetery during the past 125 years. It added a fence, created an entrance gate and acquired new land to add space.

Although coordinators plan to continue the development of the available lots, the cremation garden will allow them to move in a direction to meet the needs of more people by extending the current cemetery to the east.

The cemetery has previously only allowed tenured faculty and administrators with 20 or more years of service to be buried there, but the expansion will allow access and eligibility to more people who show commitment to the community.

The columbarium will consist of a series of walls that will hold individual’s cremains in their niches. The number of available spaces will ultimately depend on the business plan, but there’s an estimated capacity of up to a couple thousand.

“It allows us to efficiently use the land and accommodate a broader group of people’s interest in one way or another here on campus,” said Cathy Brown, assistant director for campus physical planning.

The planning process is still in the beginning stages, which include the development of design and determining how all of the niches will fit together within the walls of the cremation garden.

“We can adapt and understand where we want to go with the burials depending on interest,” Brown said.

Although the specifics have yet to be worked out, Rhonda Martin, cemetery coordinator for the Iowa State Cemetery believes the addition will act as a beneficial factor for those who have a special connection to the campus.

“There’s discussion of a student memorial site, and with the expansion of the cemetery and opening it up to cremations, I think it’s an appropriate place for it,” Martin said.

The cost of the project is expected to be about $1 million, and spaces will be sold at approximately $6,000 depending on what the market commands.

The expansion is intended to meet the needs of society as it changes and becomes more mobile through time.

“It allows people to go back to that stage of their life when they were in college and making great friendships while having an affiliation with the university community,” Brown said. “It’s gratifying when you can meet the needs of someone in the final phase of their life.”

Construction for the cremation garden is expected to begin in summer 2016.