{{short description|Armenian Cemetery in Fresno, California}} {{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}} {{Infobox cemetery|name=Ararat Massis Armenian Cemetery|established=1885|location=Fresno, California|country=United States|findagraveid=640425|website={{url| araratarmeniancemetery.org}}}} The '''Ararat Massis Armenian Cemetery''', commonly known as the '''Ararat Cemetery''', is an Armenian cemetery in Fresno, California, United States. Established in 1885, the cemetery is the burial place of many prominent figures of Armenian-American history, including Soghomon Tehlirian, Victor Maghakian, and William Saroyan.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hovannisian|first=Garin K.|title=Family of shadows a century of murder, memory, and the Armenian American dream|url=https://archive.org/details/familyofshadowsc0000hova|url-access=registration|year=2010|publisher=Harper|location=New York|isbn=9780062011602|author-link=Garin Hovannisian|quote=Kaspar arrived at the Masis section of the Ararat Cemetery of Fresno. He would be among his people, the fossils of Western Armenia. A few yards away, under the statue of an eagle slaying a snake, lay the hero Soghomon Tehlirian}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Radanovich|first=George P.|title=Tribute to Victor Maghakian|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-1996-09-17/pdf/CREC-1996-09-17-pt1-PgE1620-4.pdf|work=United States Government|publisher=Congressional Record Volume 142; Number 128|access-date=14 March 2013|date=September 17, 1996}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Relative to William Saroyan Year.|url=http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0051-0100/scr_93_bill_20080604_chaptered.html|publisher=United States Government|access-date=19 March 2013}}</ref> The Ararat Massis Cemetery was the only Armenian cemetery built outside Armenia and the Middle East for more than a century.<ref name=Berge>{{cite book|last=Bulbulian|first=Berge|title=The Fresno Armenians : history of a diaspora community|year=2000|publisher=Press at California State University, Fresno|location=Fresno, CA|isbn=9780912201351}}</ref><ref name=Greer>{{cite book|last=Greer|first=Rebecca F.|title=Armenian Cemeteries: Ararat and Masis Ararat Cemeteries, Fresno, Fresno County, California|year=1995|publisher=Fresno Genealogical Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hJNYHQAACAAJ|access-date=2013-03-29}}</ref>
==History== thumb|The Soghomon Tehlirian Monument in Ararat Cemetery The cemetery was established in 1885 at the southeast corner of Belmont and Hughes avenues, west of Fresno on land granted by Moses J. Church on December 2, 1885.<ref name=Poochigian>{{cite web|title=Ararat Armenian Cemetery|url=http://www.oocities.org/heartland/ridge/6925/araratcem.htm|publisher=Poochigian Family History & Genealogy|access-date=19 March 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Fresno's Little Armenia" Comes Alive Through Walking Tour |url=http://armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/hye_sharzhoom/vol19/may62/tour.html |publisher=Hay Sharzhoom |access-date=19 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615065206/http://armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/hye_sharzhoom/vol19/may62/tour.html |archive-date=15 June 2010 }}</ref> Church donated twenty acres to the Armenian community, but community leaders believed that they needed only ten acres.<ref name=Berge /> Later the community had to buy additional land. It is believed that Mary Papazian, the second Armenian to die in Fresno, was the first to be buried there.<ref name=Berge />
On June 9, 1919, the Ararat Cemetery Association was established.<ref name=Greer /><ref>{{cite news|last=Panosian|first=Sarkis|script-title=hy:Ֆրեզնոյի Արարատ Եւ Մասիս Գերեզմանատուները|url=http://asbarez.com/arm/151181/|access-date=20 March 2013|newspaper=Asbarez|date=January 11, 2013|language=hy}}</ref> A fire in 1930 destroyed many of Ararat Cemetery records.<ref name=Berge /> In 1956, with the efforts of the association, the cemetery expanded by acquiring a two-acre parcel of land beside the existing.<ref name=Greer /> In 1969, further expansion was done and the cemetery was renamed Ararat Massis Cemetery.<ref name=Berge /><ref name=Greer />
The cemetery features a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide. The memorial includes bones from unknown victims brought over from Der Zor, Syria.<ref name=Berge /> The cemetery also features a memorial to Moses J. Church, the donor of the property.<ref name=Berge />
==Notable burials== * Victor Maghakian (1915–1977), recipient of the Navy Cross during World War II<ref>[https://marineraiderassociation.org/maghakian-victor-j/ Marine Raider Association]</ref> * Andranik Ozanian (1865–1927), military commander and statesman (he was re-buried in Pere Lachaise, Paris in 1928<ref>{{cite book|last=Chalabian|first=Antranig|title=General Andranik and the Armenian Revolutionary Movement|year=1988|publisher=University of Michigan|page=541|author-link=Antranig Chalabian}}</ref> and finally to Yerablur, Armenia in 2000)<ref>{{cite book|last=Holding|first=Nicholas|title=Bradt Armenia: With Nagorno Karabagh|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides|location=Chalfont St. Peter, Bucks|isbn=9781841623450|page=121|edition=3rd}}</ref> * Alma Rubens (1897–1931), actress<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=nM5ADwAAQBAJ&dq=Alma+Rubens+ararat+cemetery&pg=PA83 ''The Magnificent Heel'']</ref> * Lucy Saroyan (1946–2003), actress<ref>[https://variety.com/2003/scene/people-news/lucy-saroyan-1117888180/ ''Variety'']</ref> * William Saroyan (1908–1981), dramatist and author<ref>[https://archive.org/details/americanrestingp0000yalo/page/9 <!-- quote=William Saroyan ararat cemetery. --> ''The American Resting Place'']</ref> * Soghomon Tehlirian (1896–1960), Armenian Genocide survivor who assassinated the former Ottoman Interior Minister Talaat Pasha<ref>{{cite news|script-title=hy:Սողոմոն Թէհլիրեանի Յուշարձանի Պատմականը|url=http://asbarez.com/arm/119774/|access-date=21 February 2014|newspaper=Asbarez|date=9 January 2012|language=hy}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Find a Grave cemetery|640425}} * {{official|http://araratarmeniancemetery.org/}}
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Category:Armenian-American culture in California Category:Armenian cemeteries Category:Armenian Apostolic cemeteries Category:Buildings and structures in Fresno County, California Category:1885 establishments in California Category:Cemeteries in Fresno County, California