Both cemeteries were designated New York City landmarks in 1969,[4] and in 1980 both were added to the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1830, recent outbreaks of yellow fever had led city residents to fear burying their dead in coffins just a few feet below ground,[5] and public health legislation had outlawed earthen burials.

A year later, five partners – Evert Bancker, Henry Booraem, Thomas Addis Emmett, Garret Storm and Samuel Whittemore – organized a similar venture one block east.

The first of the vaults were ready by summer 1831, the cemetery was incorporated on April 26, 1832, and it continued to purchase land on either side of the original plot until 1835, when it reached its current dimensions.

Cemetery tradition holds the bones of the first European men to be buried on Manhattan island, the Dutch dominies, were moved to the "Ministers' Vault".