The Early Years
Rose Hills began in 1914 as a small cemetery, consisting of 18 acres of whatwas once part of the famous Rancho Paso de Bartolo Spanish land grant. At that time, Rose Hills was called Whittier Heights Memorial Park and served as the local burial grounds for Whittier. Not long after the park's founding, cemetery management realized that more land was needed and purchased an additional 100 acres. However, the community the cemetery served was growing so rapidly that the additional acreage was not adequate to meet the needs of the densely populated Los Angeles and Orange County areas.

In 1928, the management launched an expansion program designed to increase the size of the cemetery through a series of land acquisitions. The program, continuing into the 1950s, increased Rose Hills' land holdings to its present size of approximately 2,500 acres. During this time, the cemetery's directors felt a name change was needed in order to better represent the expanded region the cemetery served. A community-wide contest was held in order to find the most appropriate name, and Rose Hills was selected.

Moving Mountains
Even with an organized plan for expansion, the going was not always easy. The largest obstacle in the path of Rose Hills' progress was the redesigning of huge amounts of land so that the expansion plan could go forward.

Much of the land purchased for the program consisted of rugged hillsides, steep cliffs, and deep canyons. In order to utilize what was considered worthless property, the management of Rose Hills launched one the of the largest private land redevelopment projects ever undertaken.

To reshape the terrain into gently sloping hillsides, which today serves as beautiful spacious lawns, approximately 25 million cubic yards of earth had to be moved and contoured. By the time the land conversion project was completed, Rose Hills redesigned an amount of earth about one-sixth the size of the Panama Canal.

Expansion of Services
In addition to the land expansion, the management of Rose Hills expanded the breadth of services available to Southern California families. In 1917, a small indoor mausoleum, the second public structure of its kind in California, was opened on the cemetery grounds. In 1929, construction began on the first phase of the beautiful mausoleum known as El Portal de la Paz (Doorway to Peace). This large, indoor mausoleum, a replica of the early California missions with its marble corridors and exquisite stained glass windows, first opened to the public in 1930. Five additions were made to the building before it was eventually completed.

Four garden mausoleums (Terrace of Memories, Court of Eternal Light, Mausoleum of the Valley, and Lakeview Mausoleum) were later built on the park grounds. Four beautiful chapels, Rainbow Chapel, Hillside Chapel, Memorial Chapel, and SkyRose Chapel were also built within the secluded confines of Rose Hills, each offering its own unique personality and purpose.

In 1942, Rose Hills completed the installation of its crematorium, and in 1956 Rose Hills Mortuary and Flower Shop were opened, making Rose Hills one of the first cemeteries in the country to offer all the necessary services and facilities for memorialization at one convenient location.

Expanding Its Memorialization Options
In keeping up with the needs of an ever-changing community, Rose Hills continues to develop its land in order to better serve a growing and changing population.

One such example is The Gardens which opened in 1986. Spanning 3.4 acres, The Gardens offers a wide-range of memorialization options from private and semi-private garden sites to Westminster crypts to traditional spaces.

By addressing the growing demand for cremation, The Gardens provides families with a scattering lawn, a selection of urn gardens, and a 10-foot-high, 200-foot-long black granite memorial wall for the inscription of names.

Although Rose Hills is a non-denominational cemetery, lawns have been developed and dedicated for specific religious groups as needs have arose. Some of these sites include Covenant Lawn for those of the Jewish faith; Trinity Lawn for Catholics; Deseret Lawn for Mormons; Lutheran Lawn for Lutherans; and portions of Cedarcrest Lawn for Islamics.