City View Funeral Home Cemetery & Crematorium

City View Cemetery was founded in 1893 by the J.P. Frizzell family of Perrydale, Oregon. The Frizzell family owned City View until Herman and Leta Johnston purchased it in 1949. Herman was a salesperson for Blaising Granite Company here in Salem. In 1966, the ownership was transferred to Herman and Leta’s niece, Fern, and her husband, Bill Hilts. Several major changes were made to City View in the next few years. Salem’s first outdoor/garden mausoleum was built in 1968, and two crematories were added—the first in 1970 and the second in 1979. In 1975, the Hilts’s purchased Mt. Crest Abbey Mausoleum that is located on the cemetery grounds. Ownership was then transferred in 1985 to Bill’s and Fern’s children, with son Rick named as manager. In keeping with their parents’ forward thinking, Rick and his siblings added a state-of-the-art funeral home and reception area in 1999. City View is now the only family-owned, full service funeral home, cemetery, mausoleum and crematory in Salem.

Mt. Crest Abbey Mausoleum was built in 1914 and has had several owners over the years until its purchase in 1975 by Bill and Fern Hilts. The mausoleum has crypts for casket entombment and niches for cremation urns. Mt. Crest is one of the oldest indoor mausoleums in Oregon, and the largest outside of the Portland area. There have been nine additions to the building. The last was completed in 1981. Mt. Crest has several different types of niches available, including marble, bronze, and glass front niches.

City View and Mt. Crest Abbey have several unique features compared to other cemeteries in Salem. It holds two veteran circles; one is the G.A.R. circle for Civil and Spanish American War veterans, and the other is the American Legion Circle for World War I and II, Korean and Vietnam veterans. There is also an Elk’s Circle serving the Salem Elk’s Lodge. There are 2 outdoor/garden mausoleums: Sunrise Garden Mausoleum, completed in 1969, and Mtn. View Garden Mausoleum, completed in 1991. Also, City View is the only major cemetery in Salem that allows raised markers and monuments.