Riverside Cemetery lies on the west side of Algoma Boulevard overlooking the Fox River, northwest of Oshkosh's central business district. Its scenic site, on a bluff overlooking the river, on what was originally the edge of the city, is characteristic of nineteenth century cemeteries. Riverside Cemetery's layout illustrates the evolution of cemetery design from the nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries, from a rigid rectangular grid to the curvilinear meanderings characteristic of the rural cemetery movement.

The cemetery totals almost 100 acres and includes sections historically reserved for veterans, Catholics, and Masons. The city of Oshkosh platted the original section in 1855, adding to it in 1882 and 1914. The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) veteran's plot is located in the 1855 section of the cemetery, but was not established until 1886. The Catholic sections date from 1855, 1875 and 1882/1887. The Masonic burial ground was established in 1868.

Riverside Cemetery showcases an impressive collection of monuments, mausoleums and markers that reflect the changing tastes in funerary art from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. The 1920-21 Riverside Chapel, 32 mausoleums, Riverside Cemetery Gateway, the Soldier and Sailor Monument, the Burr/End of the Trail Monument and the G.A.R. Memorial, all testify to the prominence of the cemetery and the affluence important Oshkosh families interred among the 20,000 graves.

The presence of the gateway, symbolically separating the dead from the living, and a prominently sited chapel distinguish this cemetery landscape. A section of the cemetery has been developed as a memorial park, with broad lawns and flush markers, reflecting the trend that succeeded the rural cemetery in the early-to-mid twentieth centuries.

The cemetery is open to the public.