Receiving Vault

As early as 1873, a resolution was passed by the Marion Cemetery Association to build a receiving vault as soon as the money was made available to build the vault. In 1879, Trustees A.H. Kling, P.O. Sharples and George Crawford, after reviewing the plans furnished by D.W. Giffs, an architect from Toledo, Ohio, felt the time had come to build the vault.

When President Warren G. Harding passed away in 1923 there was no permanent memorial in Marion. His remains were temporarily interned in the receiving vault until the Harding Memorial could be constructed. Armed soldiers stood watch at the vault night and day protecting the President‘s body. When the Harding Memorial was finished, President Harding and his wife, Florence, were moved for permanent burial. The vault is on the National Register of Historic Places.