City Cemetery

The four-acre plot was divided into four one-acre sections (two acres reserved for white residents, one acre reserved for visitors, and one acre reserved for black residents). Over time, the lack of maintenance of City Cemetery became a concern and in 1917, the City's Public Works Commission took over the responsibility of the cemetery. A fire in the City's municipal auditorium occurred on October 25, 1930, which destroyed all of the burial records for City Cemetery and Mt. Hope Cemetery. As a result, no further burial lots have been sold at City Cemetery as there is no way to determine lot boundaries.

By the early 1970s, responsibility for maintenance of the City's Cemeteries was transferred to the City's Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources Department and four full-time, permanent staff assigned to the Cemeteries crew. The City of Raleigh established a regular maintenance program and developed a long-range improvement plan for the City Cemetery. Unfortunately, vandalism and vagrancy continued to plague the City Cemetery throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. Volunteer groups, such as the Raleigh Junior Women's Club, made several attempts to improve City Cemetery.