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Le-Moyne Crematory

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1876, Dr. Francis J. Le-Moyne. S. Main and Elm sts.
  • (William E. Fischer, Jr.)
  • (William E. Fischer, Jr.)
  • (William E. Fischer, Jr.)
  • (William E. Fischer, Jr.)

This crematory is the oldest in the United States. It was designed by Francis Le-Moyne (see WS6) and built to his specifications by John Dye. Measuring 20 × 30 feet, the three-bay, gable-roofed, brick building with the simplest of ornament sits at the top of Gallows Hill. The extra chimney on the east elevation reveals the building's purpose, as does the 6 × 10–foot oven above the coke-fired furnace, which reaches ceiling height in the cremation room on the east side. The reception room on the west side contains much of the furniture used in Le-Moyne's time. A total of forty-one private cremations were performed in the building before it was permanently closed in 1901. Le-Moyne was cremated here in 1879 and is buried nearby.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lu Donnelly et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Washington Train Stations
Dr. John Julius Le-Moyne House
David Bradford House
Trinity High School (Trinity Hall Boys' School; Joseph McKnight House, “Spring Hill”)
George Washington Hotel

Citation

Lu Donnelly et al., "Le-Moyne Crematory", [Washington, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-01-WS10.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of PA vol 1

Buildings of Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, Lu Donnelly, H. David Brumble IV, and Franklin Toker. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010, 282-282.

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