Born in Scotland in 1834, John Dick was educated at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh. He came to the United States with his family in 1854 and worked for several years laying out the gardens and parks of Long Island and Philadelphia.

Mr. Dick then moved to Cincinnati where he studied and worked alongside Adolph Strauch, the well-known superintendent and landscape gardener at the renowned Spring Grove Cemetery and often credited as the man responsible for the rural cemetery movement.

Upon the recommendation of Mr. Strauch, Mr. Dick was selected as the superintendent in the fall of 1863 for the newly established Ferncliff Cemetery, at an annual salary of $500 and a winter’s worth of firewood. The same year that Mr. Dick came up to Springfield from Cincinnati, he married Catherine Fitzsimmons.

Mr. Dick was largely responsible for the overall design, garden landscape, and beautiful trees of Ferncliff’s cemetery and arboretum. As its first superintendent, he helped establish the cemetery as one of the most beautiful and scenic in the country.

The picture above is of Mr. Dick with his pet deer, who would follow him all over the property. We often wonder if any of the many deer we see on the grounds now are distant relatives.

He provided his visionary leadership and productive devotion to Ferncliff for 43 years until his death in 1906. After which his son, James Dick took over as superintendent until 1916. We are ever in his debt and remember him with gratitude and esteem.

John Dick and his family are laid to rest in Section B of Ferncliff Cemetery.