The Voshardt Egyptian Mausoleum at Pioneers Rest Cemetery, Two Rivers

The Voshardt Mausoleum built in 1914 features the shape and symbols of an ancient Egyptian temple.

The cemeteries in Manitowoc County contain a variety of funerary art. Tombstones and monuments are decorated with crosses, urns, cherubs, lambs, weeping willow trees, clasped hands, upward pointing fingers, fraternal and religious symbols and other design elements, besides the names and dates of those interred. Inscriptions on older markers are often written in German, Czech or Polish – a reflection of the many different ethnic groups that settled the region.

One of the most unique monuments is the Voshardt Egyptian Mausoleum in Pioneers Rest Cemetery on Forest Avenue, Two Rivers.

Henry and Louise Voshardt came from Germany in 1861 and settled in Two Rivers. Henry operated a saloon and hall on Jefferson Street, where the Hamilton wood type factory later stood. Herman, one of nine children, was born in 1864. He learned the tinsmith trade and in 1888 went into the ornamental sheet metal and statuary business with Albert Friedley in Chicago.

In January 1914, The Chronicle reported Herman Voshardt had purchased a plot of ground in the Two Rivers public cemetery. Chas. G. Blake & Co. of Chicago was commissioned to construct the mausoleum at a cost of $17,500.

A pair of bronze sphinxes guard the entry to the mausoleum in Pioneer Rest Cemetery, Two Rivers.

Work on the 12´28-foot mausoleum was done under the supervision of Henry Heckleman of Chicago. The exterior of the one-story 17-foot tall building was constructed of light gray granite quarried at Barre, Vermont. Dark gray granite used for 8-foot tall columns, turned and polished, came from Quincy, Massachusetts. The stone slabs weighed from 12 to 23 tons each and required three or four teams of horses to move.

Egyptian Revival architecture was a popular design for public buildings and cemetery monuments in America from 1880-1930. The Voshardt mausoleum incorporates the shape and symbols of an ancient Egyptian temple. The tops of columns feature carved capitals resembling lotus flowers in bloom. Winged sun disks adorn the horizontal lintel above the recessed pylon entry and the curved cornice or finished edge of the roof. This decorative feature consists of a pair of vulture wings (symbolizing protection and maternal care) sprouting from a circle (the sun), flanked by twin cobras (death).

The front of the building is guarded by a massive pair of bronze sphinxes. Each depicts a pharaoh’s head on a lion’s body and measures 4 feet–10¾ inches long ´ 23½ inches wide ´ 39 inches tall. The sphinxes were designed and made by the Friedley-Voshardt Co. of Chicago.

Resembling the approach avenue at an Egyptian temple, a granite walk, 20 feet long, followed by four steps, leads up to a decorative bronze door, 7 feet tall ´ 40 inches wide. Granite planters are set on oblong bases decorated with lotus and papyrus flowers – sacred plants representing rebirth and afterlife in ancient Egypt.

The name VOSHARDT appears in large capital letters on the architrave or horizontal band that sits directly on top of two vertical columns on the front of the mausoleum.

The interior is of polished white marble and contains sixteen above-ground crypts. The name and dates of family members appear on the front of each crypt.

A large colorful stained glass window on the back wall depicts three pyramids at Giza – tombs for Egyptian pharaohs, palm trees along the Nile River and a scarab beetle – symbol of the sun god Re.

Completed in October 1914, the Voshardt mausoleum was said to be the best in the state and one of the finest in the West.

In all, 16 Voshardt family members (Herman’s father and mother, five brothers, three sisters and five of his siblings’ spouses) are laid to rest in the stately mausoleum, the last being in 1954. Herman Voshardt was interred here after his death in 1929.

Like many of Egypt’s pyramids and temples, the Voshardt mausoleum remains the focus of much interest and curiosity today.