[7] The growth in the church was due to the burgeoning German community in the city as well as the influence of Reverend Samuel D. Finkle (or Finckel),[8] who assumed the pulpit on December 27, 1846.

[8] Reverend Finkle, who led the ceremonies and blessed the grounds, declared the cemetery open to all classes and members of any religious sect.

Prospect Hill Cemetery is indeed on high ground, and it has excellent views of the United States Capitol and the adjacent neighborhoods of Eckington and Bloomingdale.

[22] Prospect Hill was designed as a typical garden cemetery, with winding roads and paths, a high stone wall, and (in time) many trees and bushes.

[24] In 1873, a gatehouse designed by August Schoenborn, a noted German-American architect who lived in the city, was built near the main gate on Lincoln Road.

[25] The earliest mausolea are the Abner and Baumann structures, which are in the northern part of the cemetery on the slope facing the North Capitol Street gate.

Only seven directors (which included the president and secretary) were elected rather than the required eight, and the real decision maker governing the burial ground was the German Evangelical Church Society (which changed its name numerous times during the next 30 years).

[13][40] The 7 acres (28,000 m2) west of the proposed North Capitol Street route was severed from the cemetery, and the GESPHC further subdivided this section into building lots.

[43] This not only subjected these 7 acres (28,000 m2) to taxation, but allegedly made it legal for the city to condemn the route through it needed to extend North Capitol Street.

[43][48] On December 14, City Engineer Commissioner Colonel William Ludlow issued verbal orders to George M. Beale, D.C. superintendent of roads, to begin work on extending North Capitol Street.

[48] Officers of the PHC complained to city officials, and on December 29 Commissioner Wheatley issued a written order to Beale to stop work.

Independent board member John Vogt asserted that the trustees had no authority to file for a subdivision, and that lotholders were almost unanimous in opposing the transfer of title.

Even if it had, the GESPHC said, the PHC's actions were tainted and irregular due to the voting rights given to individuals who were not members of the German Evangelical Society.

[40] Within days of the PHC lotholders' special meeting, Representative John J. Hemphill (D-South Carolina) introduced a resolution to have the House Committee on the District of Columbia investigate the matter and report to Congress any attempts to violate federal law.

[40] The key question in answering the remaining issue, the court of appeals said, was whether the 1886 entity calling itself the "German Evangelical Society" was, in fact, the same voluntary, unincorporated body which formed the PHC in 1860.

George Wagner and August Schmedtie, representatives of the PHC, objected to any congressional action until the court ruled on which organization held title to the cemetery.

If Congress acted and stripped the cemetery of its rights, however, the investigative committee urged that the lotholders seek a fair price for the land (one much higher than the 1 cent per square foot offered other property owners).

They proposed passage of legislation setting aside the appraisers' award, and to seek condemnation under the new eminent domain procedure enacted as part of the 1891 D.C. highway act (approved August 30, 1890).

On October 5, PHC legal counsel filed a motion in the D.C. Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus ordering the city commissioners to pay the required $51,686.

The Court of Appeals agreed that the Act of December 21, 1893, clearly ordered the District of Columbia to open North Capitol Street.

It was "most unwisely and improvidently drawn by some one who gave but little thought to it, and was undoubtedly passed without consideration; and in our former opinion, when its provisions were pressed upon our attention, we were compelled to disregard them".

On February 28, 1896, Representative George M. Curtis (R-Iowa) introduced a bill in the House ordering the city to open North Capitol Street though the lands owned by Prospect Hill Cemetery and Mrs. Barbour.

[109] Determined to win passage of the legislation, the PHC hired ex-Representative John J. Hemphill (who had instigated the 1888 House subcommittee investigation) to represent it before Congress.

[116] A chapel, designed by the D.C.-based architectural firm of Autenrieth and Goenner, was built at Prospect Hill Cemetery in the center of the circle bordering Lincoln Road NE in 1900.

These landowners, most of whom belonged to the North Washington Citizens' Association, were furious at what they perceived to be an excessively generous award (or, alternatively, an expensive tax to pay for the road).

[127] In December 1907, the District of Columbia placed a property assessment on landowners along North Capitol Street to pay for the installation of sidewalks.

Prospect Hill Cemetery officials resisted paying the assessment, arguing that federal law specifically exempted their land from taxation.

[133] In April, the government of the District of Columbia and Concordia Church both observed the 100th anniversary of the birth of attorney and newspaper publisher Louis F. Schade, who was buried at Prospect Hill Cemetery in 1903.

The Memorial Grove was planted against the northern boundary of the burial grounds to help conceal Prospect Hill's and Glenwood Cemetery's maintenance yards.

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5C met with cemetery officials to discuss the deteriorating fence along the alley south of Bryant Street NE.