Glenwood cemetery was first established in 1849 by William Curtis and Francis Knox Morton at 27th Street & Islington Avenue in Philadelphia. It was 20 acres in size and was created in the popular mid-19th century style of
rural cemetery design. In 1852, the Scott Legion, named in honor of commanding General
Winfield Scott, sponsored the installation of a monument to recognize the soldiers who fought in the Mexican-American War as part of the First and Second Regiments of the Pennsylvania Volunteers.
Joel Barlow Sutherland was one of the speakers at the dedication ceremony. In 1885, the Pennsylvania Legislature, appropriated money to the Scott Legion for them to expand the burial vault for veterans of the Mexican-American War. Glenwood was part of the
United States National Cemetery System during the
American Civil War, with a leased lot within the cemetery for 702 Union soldiers who died in nearby hospitals. Several Confederate States Army soldiers who died as prisoners of war in local Philadelphia hospitals were also buried in the cemetery. After the Civil War,
Memorial Day ceremonies at the cemetery included orphans placing flags at the graves of their fathers. The soldiers' remains were reinterred to the
Philadelphia National Cemetery in 1891. By the 1910s, the cemetery was mostly full and the surrounding city was rapidly expanding. The City of Philadelphia began to develop plans to build streets through parts of the cemetery. The cemetery was regularly vandalized and local businesses and churches began to advocate for relocation of the cemetery. In 1921, the City of Philadelphia Health Department banned future interments in the graveyard. Memorial monument dedicated in the Old Glenwood Cemetery was relocated to the
Philadelphia National Cemetery 169 soldiers who died in the Mexican-American War, were reinterred from Glenwood to the Philadelphia National Cemetery in 1927. The Mexican-American War monument was also relocated to the Philadelphia National Cemetery. ==New Glenwood cemetery==