White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery

01 / The story of this place

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White Chapel Memorial Park was the brainchild of investor Clarence J. Sanger, who commissioned Detroit architect Alvin Harley to design Michigan's first “memorial park” cemetery, one of the earliest of its kind east of California. Construction began in 1925 and the roughly 200-acre grounds opened in 1928, centered on a long boulevard leading to a white marble mausoleum. Architect Albert Kahn, who shaped Detroit's skyline with buildings like the Fisher Building and Ford's River Rouge plant, was laid to rest in the mausoleum's Kahn family crypt after his death in 1942. Automaker John DeLorean, creator of the gull-winged DMC-12 sports car, was interred here in 2005 with military honors from a Detroit National Guard unit. Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the assisted-suicide advocate known as “Dr. Death,” was buried here in 2011 after his death at nearby Beaumont Hospital. White Chapel remains an active cemetery today, open to visitors.

1. Opened in 1928 as Michigan's first “memorial park” cemetery.
2. Architect Albert Kahn is entombed in the mausoleum's family crypt.
3. DMC-12 creator John DeLorean was interred here in 2005 with military honors.
4. Dr. Jack Kevorkian, “Dr. Death,” was buried here in 2011.