Just south of campus and amid several of the University’s athletic complexes, from Memorial Stadium to Eichelberger Field, lies Mount Hope Cemetery. The 52-acre land between Pennsylvania and Florida avenues is older than the University and is rich with history. The cemetery was first plotted and surveyed in 1856, making it the oldest cemetery in the area. It comprises Jewish, Muslim and two military veterans sections, including one near the Mount Hope Mausoleum, marked by a Civil War-era cannon. The western portion is actually a separate cemetery, Roselawn, which used to be owned by the University. From University presidents to famous football coaches, numerous influential figures in Illinois history are buried in both Roselawn and Mount Hope.

*Cyril G. Hopkins and Stephen A. Forbes*

Forbes fought for the Union Army in the Civil War and became the first chief of the Illinois Natural History Survey. Forbes, an entomology professor, also served as the dean for the College of Science. Hopkins is known for his research in agriculture and was the head of the University’s College of Agriculture. Both men are buried near Fourth Street, not far from the dorms named after them.

*Robert C. Zuppke*

Zuppke, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, was the head coach of the Illini football team from 1913 to 1941. He won four national titles in that time span, including in 1923 when Hall-of-Famer Red Grange was on the team. Zuppke died in 1957 and his tombstone reads, “He so lived that those whose lives touched his were a little better for having known him.”

Zuppke is buried along Fourth Street, in sight of Memorial Stadium and even with the 50-yard line of Zuppke Field.

*George A. Huff*

Huff, a graduate of the University in 1890, served as Illinois’ athletic director from 1901 to 1935. Huff coached both the Illini football and baseball teams and also managed the Boston Red Sox in 1907. Huff is buried near Zuppke, also even with the 50-yard line and in sight of Memorial Stadium.

*George E. Morrow*

The first dean of the College of Agriculture. Morrow’s legacy can still be felt just east of the Undergraduate Library where the Morrow Plots lie. The plots were established in 1876 and are the oldest experimental agricultural fields still in use in the United States.

*Edmund J. James*

James is among several former University presidents buried in the cemetery, serving as president from 1904 to 1920. He was also president of Northwestern University before leaving to take the position at Illinois, and was discussed as a potential United States presidential candidate in 1916. The Edmund J. James Scholar Program is named in his honor.

*Arthur C. Willard*

Willard was appointed University president in 1934 and led the school through the Great Depression and World War II. In 1946, the Institute of Aviation was established and Willard Airport was dedicated in his honor.

*William B. McKinley*

McKinley, a University alumnus, was a member of both the United States House of Representatives and the Senate from Illinois in the early 1900s. The McKinley Health Center and McKinley Foundation are named after him.

*Jack Richmond*

Richmond was a longtime University benefactor who donated millions to the school, including an endowment to support the men’s basketball coach’s salary and the funds to construct the Richmond Journalism Teaching Studio.

Richmond lived his entire life in Champaign and received a bachelor’s in agriculture from the University in 1943. Richmond died last April and is buried in the Mount Hope Mausoleum.

*Mark Carley*

Carley was the first non-Native American settler to call Champaign

home. He’s one of the city’s founders and was a friend of Abraham Lincoln as a member of the president’s “kitchen cabinet.”

*Lou Henson Jr.*

Henson Jr. was the son of former Illinois basketball coach Lou Henson, the winningest coach in the school’s basketball history with 423 wins and 12 NCAA tournament appearances over 21 years at Illinois. Henson Jr. was killed in a car accident in Urbana in 1992 during his first season as the head basketball coach at Parkland College.

*David and Helen Stevick*

David Stevick purchased the Champaign Daily Gazette and merged it with the Champaign Daily News to create The News-Gazette. Helen took over as president and publisher when David passed away in 1935, and their daughter, Marajen Stevick Chinigo, ran the newspaper from 1967 until her death in 2002. The Stevick’s are buried near Fourth Street in the Roselawn section of the cemetery.

_Source: Steve Margevich, Mount Hope Cemetery, The News-Gazette and Illinois.edu_