Originally known as the New Cemetery the land (25 acres) was purchased by the town appointed cemetery commission in 1869 from the Bemis, Van Horn, Paine and Conway families. The first superintendent was a Lafayette Temple In 1890, an ordinance declared the name change of the New Cemetery to be called the Fairview Cemetery. In 1895, George M. Steams, a well known Chicopee lawyer donated $3,000 to build a gateway that later in the year was designed by the internationally known sculptor and bronze caster, Melzar Mosman. The burial ground became the last resting place of Chicopee's leading families including the Chapins, Spauldings, Gaylords, Rumrills, and Stearns.