Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad helps pay for a mausoleum makeover
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This mausoleum's look from the 1800s is being painted as a mural on a concrete slab that replaced its crumbling entrance. Drawing: Shawn Palek via Friends of Des Moines Parks. Photo: Jason Clayworth/Axios
Historic preservationists are painting a new face on the remains of a local mausoleum.
Why it matters: It replicates the roughly 150-year-old monument's historic look before its crumbling entrance was barricaded with a concrete slab.
Catch up fast: The Woodland Cemetery vault of Absalom Morris, an original board member of Equitable Life Insurance Company of Iowa, was built in the late 1870s.
- The slab was added around 1946 to secure it from further disrepair.
What's happening: Metro historian John Zeller proposed replicating the mausoleum's original entrance with a mural painted on its concrete barricade.
- NCMIC insurance and former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad paid for the $11,000 project, Mike Rowley, a Clive resident who helped organize the effort, tells Axios.
What's next: Project volunteers hold an official public unveiling of the mural during a 175th cemetery commemoration event on Sept. 16 from 10am to 3pm.
- The mausoleum is in Block 14 of the cemetery.
