[2] About April 1876,[3] the association's trustees hired the Cleveland architectural firm of Bruch & Monks[4][5] to design a chapel for the cemetery.

[3] Narrow bunk-like racks provided space for the storage of coffins and human remains until the spring thaw.

[4][7] Riverside Cemetery was opened on July 8, 1876, on a bluff overlooking the west bank of the Cuyahoga River in the unincorporated village of Brooklyn Centre (now a neighborhood which is part of Cleveland, but then an independent settlement).

Ohio Governor (and President-elect) Rutherford B. Hayes attended the ceremony, planting a tree on Chapel Avenue.

[11] On December 13, 1897, the cemetery trustees voted to approve the addition of a porte-cochère to the east side of the chapel.

[12] The Cleveland architectural firm of Steffens, Searles & Hirsh was hired to design the alterations,[13][14] which also included adding a coal-fired furnace and coal room in the basement,[4] a covered rear stairway at the rear of the building to give access to the basement,[4][7] a dropped ceiling in the interior,[7][c] and Gothic Revival lead glass windows in the north, south, and west walls.

The southern medallion depicted a descending dove with an olive branch in its beak, symbolic of peace and the Holy Spirit.

[5] In 1988, several stone roof caps were dislodged and fell to the ground just hours after the funeral of a cemetery trustee was held in the chapel.

[6] In 1992, realizing that the chapel was in danger of collapse, the cemetery began a $250,000 fundraising campaign to restore it to full use.