INDIANAPOLIS — The Department of Veterans Affairs dedicated a new expansion at Crown Hill Cemetery Friday.
The expansion means for the first time in 63 years, Indianapolis-area veterans and their eligible family members will be able to be interred at a local veterans cemetery. Crown Hill was closed to first interments in 1959, the VA said.
The 15-acre expansion will include a new columbarium - a structure that stores and displays cremated remains - and serve more than 250,000 veterans.
Construction on the site started in June of last year and is only the second project to be completed under the National Cemetery Administration's Urban Initiative program to improve access to veteran burial benefits.