One hundred and sixty-two years ago Nov. 19, Abraham Lincoln delivered his incomparable Gettysburg Address at the dedication of Gettysburg National Cemetery. In the years before, the designer of the cemetery had left his imprint on Illinois.

William Saunders, one of the foremost landscape architects of the nineteenth century, designed a number of notable landmarks in Illinois in the 1850s and 1860s. Among them are two of Chicago’s major cemeteries, Rosehill (1859) and Graceland (1860).

Saunders also designed Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, where Lincoln rests, as well as the Quad at Illinois State University, a striking feature of the campus.

Though he had a national reputation, some of Saunders’ finest works are in Illinois. Born on Dec. 7, 1822, in St. Andrews, Scotland, Saunders was the son of a gardener.

One modern source reports he “came from a family of noted gardeners, and throughout his early life he enjoyed exceptional opportunities to study botany, horticulture, and landscape gardening in his native country.”

Saunders pursued those topics at both the local St. Andrews College and the University of Edinburgh before a brief stint as an apprentice gardener at several estates in London. He then immigrated to the United States, landing at New York on March 31, 1848.

Once in America, Saunders became a frequent contributor to such magazines as the Horticulturist and secured a string of commissions, including the Baltimore estate of tycoon Johns Hopkins in 1852, quickly establishing himself as a leader in landscape design.

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Among those who took notice was Jesse Fell, a Bloomington businessman with an indomitable will and boundless energy. Some credit Fell with bringing Saunders’ talents to Illinois.

During the summers of 1856 and 1857, Fell constructed a grand residence in present-day Normal. The home was on eighteen acres that Fell called “Greenwood,” but known locally as “Fell Park.”

Fell hired Saunders to landscape the property, and the grounds ultimately included apple and peach orchards, large grape vineyards, and a strawberry patch. Fell Park became an attraction in itself and was open to the public on Sundays.

Meanwhile, Fell also worked to secure Saunders’ services for Illinois State Normal, with his usual foresight. Among Saunders’ other recommendations, he believed that a nursery should be created on the university grounds.

One campus historian declared that Saunders’ detailed proposal was intended to make the university “a veritable arboretum.” Another modern writer notes the “network of winding drives and walks set aside picturesque groves.” Saunders charged the university $65 for his services.

However, as the university struggled to gain a foothold in its earliest years, Saunders’ proposals were largely pushed aside for a decade. In 1866, the ubiquitous Fell was named to the state Board of Education, and secured $3,000 from the state legislature on Feb. 28, 1867, to pay for the university landscaping.

Saunders’ plan was followed as closely as possible, and when the project exceeded the state appropriation, Fell paid for the difference from his own pocket. Today, the ISU Quad is considered one of the most beautiful spaces at any Illinois university.

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In 1856, the city of Springfield purchased twenty-eight and one-half acres for a new burial ground. Three years later, Saunders was hired to design the site, which opened in 1860 as Oak Ridge Cemetery. The dedication was held on May 24, 1860, and both Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln were in attendance.

Lincoln is the most famous of the 75,000 burials at Oak Ridge, which measures 365 acres and is the largest municipal cemetery in the state. Because of the Lincoln Tomb, Oak Ridge is reportedly the second-most visited cemetery in the nation, behind only Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1862, Saunders was appointed as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s first botanist and landscape designer. The following year, he was chosen to design the Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg, which one source called “the pinnacle of his cemetery design career.”

Saunders was hired for the project by David Wills, a Gettysburg attorney, and they met at the battlefield in late August 1863 to tour the site and discuss a proposal. Wills subsequently organized the dedication ceremony for the cemetery on Nov. 19, 1863, and invited an array of speakers to appear at the dedication, including President Lincoln.

In preparation, Lincoln invited Saunders for a meeting at the White House on the evening of November 17, two days before the dedication, to discuss the design. Saunders later recalled that “I…spread the plans on his office table. [Lincoln] took much interest in it, asked about its surroundings…and seemed familiar with the topography of the place although he had never been there.”

Saunders continued that Lincoln “was much pleased with the method of the graves, saying it differed from the ordinary cemetery, and after I had explained the reasons, said it was an admirable and befitting arrangement.”

It may not have been the first time that Saunders and Lincoln met. Lincoln was a close friend of Jesse Fell, and was a regular visitor to his home throughout the 1850s. The President may have also met Saunders at the Oak Ridge dedication.

Saunders has been widely lauded for his design at Gettysburg, described by one writer as “a semicircular shape for the graves, arranged by states” with “two ends for the unknowns.”

Following Lincoln’s death by assassination on April 15, 1865, the Lincoln Monument Association brought Saunders back to Oak Ridge for “laying out and platting the monument grounds” for the permanent Presidential tomb at Oak Ridge.

Saunders is also introduced a variety of non-native plants to the United States, most notably the navel orange, a staple of the American fruit industry today. He died on Sept. 11, 1900.

• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.