[2] It is also listed on the Network to Freedom, a National Park Service registry for sites associated with the Underground Railroad.

A wooden vault was built next to it in 1918 because of the large number of deaths as a result of the Spanish flu epidemic.

[8] The cemetery entrance is marked by a set of monumental gates, designed in the Art Nouveau style by Davenport architect Edward Hammatt in 1895.

His mausoleum was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Davenport architects Rudolph Clausen & Walter Kruse.

The interior features crypts carved from white marble and Egyptian-inspired stained glass windows.

[13] At one time 174 soldiers were buried at Oakdale, including the first Iowans to die in the Civil War at the Battle of Fort Donelson.

The remaining 14 soldiers' graves were moved to the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) plot in 1900.

The plot was transferred from the GAR to the cemetery association in 1940 and the United States government took possession of it the following year.