Miller Mausoleum

Beginning in 1917, Joseph M. Miller dedicated ten years to constructing a mysterious mausoleum, a structure made entirely of steel-reinforced concrete. It's said that tons of recycled steel were used for reinforcement. The first-floor features walls that are three feet thick, while the second-floor walls are two feet thick, with an estimated 500 cubic yards of concrete used throughout.

The second floor was originally designed as a museum, with a large room displaying Civil War artifacts, while a smaller room held family portraits and religious paintings. Unfortunately, due to extensive vandalism and theft, all remaining items were eventually removed.

The cupola, or dome, on the roof was designed as a flattened observation tower, reflecting Miller's interpretation of the domes found on temples built during the Byzantine Empire era. 

The Miller Mausoleum is an above-ground tomb built to memorialize departed loved ones. It contains two crypt rooms: a smaller room with twelve vaults and a larger room with thirty-six vaults. Originally, all forty-eight vaults were covered with marble, and ten additional marble stones were mounted on the interior walls to honor other Miller family members.

Why did Joseph M. Miller construct this enormous structure? As a young man, he confided to his father that he dreaded the idea of lying in water that often accumulates in graves. Joseph expressed his desire to be buried above ground, to which his father responded, “All right son, whatever you want is all right with me. Only I want to be with you wherever you are.”

Inspired by tombs mentioned in the Bible, as well as the historical practices during the Middle Ages, Joseph designed his mausoleum to keep the deceased in a dry and peaceful environment, 

Unfortunately, for many decades, the Miller family has been deeply troubled by the vandalism, disrespect, and general deterioration of the mausoleum. The family has endured countless heartbreaks due to the mistreatment of this sacred site. Horrid stories abound, including beer parties that left trash strewn about, beautifully stained-glass windows shattered by BB guns, the second-floor museum vandalized, historical artifacts stolen, and, more recently, a rap group filming a music video inside the mausoleum and posting it on YouTube.

As a result of this ongoing mistreatment and insufficient funds for building maintenance, later generations of the Miller family chose not to be buried there.  Additionally, the crypts within the mausoleum were designed in an era when rural farming communities didn’t invest in elaborate oversized caskets, further complicating its use.

Beginning in the fall of 2016, significant efforts were made to protect the structural integrity of the mausoleum. With its successful listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the mausoleum can now stand as a landmark that the local community can take pride in, preserving it as a memorial to the Miller family.

Most importantly, the remains of the builder, Joseph M. Miller, and his wife were reinterred in an attractive above-ground monument, embossed with the image of the mausoleum, in keeping with his wishes to be buried above ground.