Detroit's earliest cemeteries. Downtown locations.

[Michael Hojnacki]

This is from a book that was given to buyers interested in mausoleum property at White Chapel in Troy. The page has an aerial view of Detroit's earliest cemeteries. A well-written piece of historical Detroit advertisement.

[DetroitSoldier]

As a cemetery guru I find the lack of graveyards in our central city to be abnormal for cities of Detroit's age. Places like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia all have very old and generally unmolested graveyards. Detroit seems unique in that cemeteries, most often attached to churches, were relocated outside the central city. Many of the early burials at Elmwood were moves from the downtown area.

[Michael Hojnacki]

I agree. Chicago is another city that relocated their dead. In some Chicago neighborhoods, people find graves in backyards that were missed during the removal process. White Chapel had a good idea, but they never imagined the land outside of the cemetery would be developed. In the early 80's they still had cornfields across from the cemetery.

[Michael Hojnacki]

An interesting read from 1922 "The City of Detroit" Volume 2

https://books.google.com/books?id=jF...metery&f=false

[iheartthed]

As a cemetery guru I find the lack of graveyards in our central city to be abnormal for cities of Detroit's age. Places like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia all have very old and generally unmolested graveyards. Detroit seems unique in that cemeteries, most often attached to churches, were relocated outside the central city. Many of the early burials at Elmwood were moves from the downtown area.

I suspect that was more the rule in New York as well. I think are only a three cemeteries in Manhattan, and they are all small and 300 years old. They were probably preserved only because they are on church properties.

[jackie5275]

While not in the city, this cemetery is pretty old dating back to 1840.
The parish still maintains the original church & cemetery. It was given State historic designation in 1978. They stopped burying folks there in the late 1970s. They put a policy in place to not bury anyone else there due to limited remaining space unless the person had done outstanding things for the parish [[read-donate lots of money). IIRC, the last person to be buried there was a lady named Myrtle Hess in the 1980s, who of course had done outstanding things for the parish.

https://books.google.com/books?id=fB...e%20mi&f=false

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K83PwiuySs

[EastsideAl]

White Chapel had to sell pretty hard to get people to buy plots in their then-rural location. My great uncle and aunt, who were notorious cheapskates in my already-thrifty family, bought plots out there at a great discount and are buried there, along with their son. My grandfather always complained whenever he came to town about having to drive "way out into the country" to visit his brother's grave, and mostly refused to do so.

White Chapel does have though what I believe to be the only monument anywhere to the "polar bear" campaign of US troops [[mostly from Michigan) as part of the short-lived and ill-fated Allied intervention in the Russian Revolution towards the end of WWI.

As for Detroit cemeteries, it's also notable that there are no churchyard burial grounds in the central part of the city. It seems that at some point rather early in the growth of the city a decision was made to no longer allow burials in the central city, and cemeteries were instead opened on the outskirts of town [[like Elmwood & Mt. Elliott). I know that the city's Clinton St. cemetery, mentioned in that ad, was broken up in the 1860s, with the Catholic remains sent to Mt. Elliott and the rest sent to the then brand new Woodmere Cemetery.

[Michael Hojnacki]

C.C Fitzpatrick came out to White Chapel when it was two farms in August of 1924 or 1925 as an advisor. the investors had him there as a consultant and the grounds were planned similar to that of Valhalla Memorial Park. BTW C.C was a swindler in Los Angeles who pocketed millions by selling the same plots over and over.

[robtandersen]

Our first state governor is buried downtown.
http://historicdetroit.org/building/...ason-monument/

[Patrick]

I am not sure why, but I recall reading about a cemetery/burial ground somewhere in the vicinity of Conner and 94. I am not sure but I thought it was a group of unmarked graves...maybe cholera victims or relocated remains from other cemeteries. I think this was discussed a decade ago on this site.

[Kathleen]

Hi Patrick!

You are thinking of the Detroit City Cemetery, located approximately
NW corner of Gunston and Hern streets, at the I-94 and Conner interchange.

From Detroit 1701 website:
http://detroit1701.org/Detroit%20Cit...l#.W6KQlvYnaUk

Also mentioned in this DYes thread:
https://www.detroityes.com/mb/showth...k-Twp-Cemetery [[scroll down to November-05-2015 posts)

[Patrick]

Hi Patrick!

You are thinking of the Detroit City Cemetery, located approximately
NW corner of Gunston and Hern streets, at the I-94 and Conner interchange.

From Detroit 1701 website:
http://detroit1701.org/Detroit%20Cit...l#.W6KQlvYnaUk

Also mentioned in this DYes thread:
https://www.detroityes.com/mb/showth...k-Twp-Cemetery [[scroll down to November-05-2015 posts)

Greetings - been a long while! Yes, that is the cemetery I was thinking of.