7. Fiorello H. LaGuardia: Woodlawn Cemetery

fiorello la guardia's tomb
Fiorello La Guardia rests among many famous musicians, wealthy elites, and politicians in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Widely acclaimed as one of the greatest mayors in American history, Fiorello H. La Guardia is best known for revitalizing New York City and restoring faith in City Hall. With support from Franklin D. Roosevelt, La Guardia managed to reorganize the police force and defeat the notorious Tammany Hall, thus rescinding employment based on patronage. When La Guardia died of pancreatic cancer in his home in The Bronx in 1947, he was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery, also in The Bronx.

Woodlawn Cemetery was established in 1863 when a group of businessmen convened and decided that New York City was in need of a new cemetery that could sustain its growth. Founders picked a 400-acre site in The Bronx, with advertisements boasting the cemetery was only “thirty minutes away from Manhattan” on the train from Grand Central Terminal. Over the years, the cemetery grew in popularity, especially among stars on the screen and stage such as Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Famous Gilded Age families, such as the Vanderbilts, also fancied the cemetery. Adding to the cemetery’s grand reputation, Woodlawn is teeming with over 1,300 mausoleums, many of which were designed by renowned architects and landscape designers. The cemetery is also the final resting place for the most Titanic victims in one resting ground. The heritage of Woodlawn Cemetery culminated in its designation as a National Historic Landmark in 2011.