The cemetery association that operates Grandview was founded in 1885 to accommodate Johnstown's rapidly growing population.

The first interment was that of Lucretia Hammond of Kernville (now a part of Johnstown), who was buried on April 30, 1887.

[1] The land for the cemetery, west of the city on Yoder Hill, was purchased from the Cambria Iron Company.

A section of the cemetery called the "Unknown Plot" contains the bodies of 777 flood victims who could not be identified, and a monument to the flood victims was purchased by the state of Pennsylvania and dedicated on May 31, 1892 before an estimated crowd of 10,000 that included the governor of Pennsylvania.

The cemetery contains forty-seven burial sections and more than 235 acres (0.95 km2), and is one of the largest in Pennsylvania.