The extensive early monument building at Lake View helped give rise to the Little Italy neighborhood, but over-expansion nearly bankrupted the burial ground in 1888.

[1] During the winter of 1869–1870, work crews began grading and laying down roads and paths, terracing part of the site for in-ground plots and mausoleums, and removing underbrush and unwanted trees.

[31] The cemetery's distance from Cleveland's population center and the price of its plots meant that only those with a middle class income or better could afford to be buried at Lake View.

The first ravine was bridged in November 1870,[34] and in December the association purchased an unspecified number of acres that doubled the length of its frontage on Euclid Avenue.

[45] Lake View Cemetery purchased another 100 acres (40 ha) of land in 1875, issuing $150,000 ($4.16 million in 2023 dollars)[19][25] in 6 percent annual interest[17] bonds to pay for it.

[52] Garfield was temporarily interred in the cemetery's public vault on September 26, 1881,[53] then transferred on October 22 to an empty mausoleum owned and designed by noted local architect Levi Scofield.

[54][55][56] Even before Garfield's funeral, plans were laid by his friends and admirers for a grand tomb to be erected at the highest point in the cemetery.

[57][e] The popularity of the garden-like cemetery and the public's desire to see Garfield's resting place were such that large crowds began thronging Lake View every Sunday.

[51] Cemetery officials began requiring tickets in the summer of 1882 to enter the grounds in order to control the crowds and maintain a suitable atmosphere for mourning.

He spent 10 years in New York City, where he dressed stone and carved the statue Industry for the Federal Building and Post Office in Brooklyn.

The annexation included all of Lake View Cemetery west of a line running from the end of Brightwood Avenue south to Mayfield Road.

The cemetery began quietly borrowing money from the Citizens Savings and Loan Association, a local bank, in order to pay interest on its bonds.

[86] The initial plan to save Lake View Cemetery, proposed by association officials,[i] paid bondholders 3 percent of interest due in cash and the remainder in scrip.

[19] Local banker and cemetery trustee Daniel P. Eells proposed in November 1889[80] to form a syndicate to raise $200,000 ($6.78 million in 2023 dollars) and redeem two-thirds of all outstanding bonds at the current market price.

[78][80] Subscribers to the redemption fund were essentially betting that the price of the bonds in 1893 would have risen more than enough to not only cover their investment but also offset the loss of income from the reduced interest payments.

Houghton claimed to have been given misleading information on the amount of outstanding debt by Lake View officials, and he threatened to sue the cemetery to force it into receivership (a process which would take about six years to accomplish).

Sections ready for sale were unmown, weeds and other plants grew wild, and erosion and drought had left some areas bare of vegetation.

Excess revenues would be applied first to the income debentures, second to interest on the 1878 and refunding bonds, third to sinking fund payments, and lastly to any reasonable improvements to be made to the cemetery.

[81][s] Garfield felt the association's plan was needed to ensure the cemetery's financial stability, and began sending personalized and form letters to all the bondholders in December 1891.

[118] In 1896,[119] Jeptha H. Wade II decided to fund the construction of a new receiving vault and chapel, dedicated to the memory of his grandfather, at Lake View Cemetery.

[130] In 1898, John D. Rockefeller, the co-founder and largest stockholder in Standard Oil and one of the wealthiest men in the United States, began the erection of a funerary monument in Lake View Cemetery.

[153][109] Lot sales were extremely high in 1895, 1896, 1897, and 1898,[130] helping to improve the cemetery's financial condition and making its bonds well-regarded for investment purposes.

Lake View was making so much money that cemetery was able to purchase $50,000 ($1,190,000 in 2023 dollars) worth of Liberty Loan bonds in 1917 to support the American cause in World War I.

[173][174] The truck was used to haul materials from Lake View's quarry around the cemetery for the construction of buildings and macadam roads and the setting of headstone foundations.

[180] As more people chose cremation as a burial option in the latter half of the 20th century, Lake View Cemetery responded by constructing and opening a cremains mausoleum in 1990.

Even though the cemetery is a significant tourist attraction and the site of a presidential memorial, Lake View received no local, state, or federal funding as of 2017.

This included reinforcing beams and columns in the basement,[187] In 2019, the cemetery began a multi-million-dollar project to clean the exterior and repoint any damaged or missing mortar.

[aj] The foundation was originally chartered to raise money to repair and restore the James A. Garfield Memorial and to establish a fund for its ongoing maintenance.

After the renovation was completed, the foundation expanded its goals to include enhancing, maintaining, and preserving the botanical gardens, buildings, horticulture, landscape, monuments, and areas at Lake View Cemetery to benefit the general public.

The ornate interior features a large marble statue, stained glass, bas relief, and various historical relics from Garfield's life and presidency.