The Hollenback Cemetery Association was organized in 1855. On June 4th of that year the corporators of the Association met and elected the following: George M. Hollenback, president; Isaac S. Osterhaut, secretary; John N. Fuller, Ziba Bennett, W. J. Woodward and A. T. McClintock, managers. The original area of the cemetery was fifteen acres, the same being a gift of Col. George M. Hollenback with
a single limitation that "a lot in same should be reserved for family use". To this acreage, the late John Welles Hollenback in 1887, added an additional five acres by way of gift to the Association. By an advertisement in the Record of the Times on December 13, 1855, it was announced that the cemetery was opened for the "choice and selection of lots". The first burial therein was that of the remains of George F. Slocum, March 26, 1856. On May 21st of the same year, minutes of the Association record the issuance of one hundred twenty nine permits for burial, the rather astonishing number being due to the abandonment of private plots for the purpose and the assembling of ancestoral dead in this more appropriate spot. In addition, by 1870, several hundred remains had been removed from the old Burying Grounds on East Market street. (Ernest Gray Smith).
