By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – About 25,000 people are buried within the 60 acres of Silverbrook Cemetery.
The City of Niles employs two people – one full time and one part time – to handle the maintenance of the grounds. Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery, an organization now forming in Niles, hopes to lend a hand to maintaining and improving the property.
"In life, things are never stagnant. They're either on the incline or decline. We want to make sure that Silverbrook stays on the incline," said Tim Skalla, fourth ward representative for Niles City Council.
Skalla organized Wednesday's inaugural gathering of Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery. The group has plans to meet at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at the Law Enforcement Complex, 1600 Silverbrook St.
About 30 people attended the meeting and many expressed an interest in reviving the history of Silverbrook Cemetery, including restoring damaged and dirty headstones, and archiving to computer files for quick reference of those buried in the grounds and their history and role in Niles.
Some in attendance raised questions of exactly what the responsibilities of the city were in maintaining the grounds, and also if mowers and weed whackers were damaging headstones. Plus, others expressed concern about how families of those buried at Silverbrook Cemetery might respond to the club handling headstones.
"Most families are going to be appreciative of anything we do to beautify and make that a more pleasant place for loved ones," said Skalla, who has a great grandfather buried in Silverbrook Cemetery.
Silverbrook Cemetery was founded in 1836, making it older than the State of Michigan. Many people important to the history of Niles are buried within its metal gates, including members of the Plym family, the parents and sister of Montgomery Ward, the family of journalist Ring Lardner, the parents of John and Horace Dodge and Civil War figures Col. Francis Quinn of the Michigan 12th and Gen. Henry A. Morrow of the 24th Michigan Infantry.
Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery is getting help forming from – and will be modeled after – a similar organization in Buchanan, Friends of Oak Ridge Cemetery, which was formed in April of 2003 "to restore the cemetery to its once proud heritage," said president Lyle Sumerix. Since its inception the 31-member Friends of Oak Ridge Cemetery has cleaned, raised and repaired half the headstones in the oldest section of the property and organized walking tours.
Sumerix encouraged the Niles group to attend seminars on headstone restoration and to partner with the Berrien County Genealogical Society, of which two members were in attendance Wednesday night. He also said Friends of Oak Ridge have benefited from working closely with city government.
"We've had help getting started and we're happy to help you," Sumerix added.
Skalla said Niles City Councilmember Bill Weimer made a motion at a recent meeting to allow the city to pursue a designation to place Silverbrook Cemetery on the National Register of Historic Places.
The next meeting of Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery is Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Law Enforcement Complex. Friends of Oak Ridge Cemetery meet at 7:30 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month at the Buchanan Senior Center, 131 Oak St.