Forest Lawn Cemetery - Table of Contents

Walden-Myer Mausoleum
Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, NY
Architect:
Richard A. Waite

TEXT Beneath Illustrations



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Ebenezer Walden
1777-1857

Romanesque Revival mausoleum

According to the Maine Granite
Industry Historical Society, the monument is made of Hallowell granite

Romanesque Revival entrance

Paterae in arch

Squat Romanesque Revival columns; monumental acanthus leaves

Acanthus leaves

Chevron; Romanesque Revival capitals

Rear view

The giant globe, which symbolizes God's sovereignty over heaven and earth.

Rear

 

Gen. Albert Myer

 

Catherine Walden Myer

 


The Walden-Myer Mausoleum, Section X, contains the families of Ebenezer Walden (Buffalo's first lawyer, a Buffalo judge, mayor, and real estate developer) and his son-in-law, Albert James Myer (1829-1880).

Myer earned his medical degree at the University of Buffalo Medical School.

Prognosticating the weather was a novel thing in the middle 1800s, but Brigadier General Myer did it so successfully that he founded the U,S Weather Bureau He also invented the wig-wag signal system and became the first commander of the Army Signal Corp.

The National Weather Service, Buffalo, New York, is located in the General Albert J. Myer forecast facility on Aero Drive adjacent to the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport.

Fort Myer, VA, is named after Myer; a ship is named after him.

Myer's wife built the mausoleum.

Excerpt from The Story of the Signal Corps
(Website offline in January 2009)

The ability to communicate rapidly on the battlefield and with higher headquarters -- anticipating radio in the Twentieth Century -- came about through the ingenuity, vision, and persistence of one man, Albert James Myer of New York. A pre-Civil War assistant surgeon in the army, Myer became the world's first signal officer in 1860.

Simple in concept (a single flag waved to the left or right; torches at night), the Myer system was cheap, easily manufactured or even improvised, and could be carried by a single man. Using elevations that afforded extended line-of-sight (a hillock, tree, steeple or cupola, or a tower for the purpose), signaling was practicable over distances of ten miles or more in good visibility, and could be extended through relays to create networks.


Sources:


See also:


Photos and their arrangement © 2003 Chuck LaChiusa
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