The Roman Catholic Bishop of Wheeling, the Right Reverend Dr. R. V. Whelan, purchased thirty-two acres for a Catholic cemetery in May 1872. According to Gibson Lamb Cranmer, he “at once went to work improving his new purchase, and superintended the layout of the cemetery himself.” After the founder's death in 1874, a chapel was built in his memory under the auspices of his successor, Bishop John Kain, and Whelan's remains were placed beneath the altar. The miniature Victorian Gothic building, also intended to serve as a church for area Catholics, is constructed of sandstone and has a spired tower on one corner. A signed drawing by Frederick, a Baltimore architect, titled “altar for mortuary chapel” and labeled “for the Rt. Rev. John J. Kain, Bishop of Wheeling, W.Va.” survives in the Maryland Historical Society.