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Ref: History of Michigan City.. The recorded original plat
of Michigan City carries the following donation among others given by Major
Elston for public purposes:
"one acre of ground on the southeast corner of
section 29 is donated to the public Buryal ground."
This tract was east of
blocks 103 and 104 at the extreme lower end of Spring street and opposite the
eastern end of Wood street.
It was the city cemetery for thirty years and until
the close of the Civil War and is still spoken of as the Old Cemetery. As early as
1840 it began to be too small and
March 4 of that year the common council
ordained "That 35 feet of the east side of as much of the street running
between the graveyard and blocks 103 and 104 as joins
said graveyard and lot
No. I in the same block be vacated as a street and attached to said graveyard."
History of Greenwood Cemetery:
In 1852 the council committee sought out the purchase of a new burying
ground. The matter was held over indefinitely. Then ten years later March 10,
1862,
the purchase of additional land and/or the investigation of new land was
inquired into. Out of this action grew the purchase of the tract now occupied
by the beautiful
Greenwood Cemetery.
Although Greenwood is not the first cemetery in Michigan City, it has
been in existence since December 1863 when the city council bought the first
plot of 20 acres which were
dedicated August 14, 1864 by Mayor H.H. Roberts.
Mrs. Jane Greenwood, wife of Thomas, died August 25, 1864 and is believed to be the
first person buried in this cemetery;
thus, the City Council passed a resolution on
October 22, 1864 adopting the name Greenwood Cemetery.
Greenwood Cemetery was purchased from Ann
Sanborn in 1863.
On 26 November, 1864, a city ordinance was enacted stating from that
date on there were to be no burials in the City of Michigan City except
for Greenwood Cemetery.
Bodies from the "old cemetery" were
still being removed to Greenwood in the late 1870's. This was no easy task, as much of the area was sandy soil and shifting sands meant
that many of the graves were much deeper than they were originally
buried. Ocassionally as footings for other construction was being
worked on, more artifacts and burials
were discovered. This went on well into the 20th century.
Many stones with dates prior to 1864 are considered
re-burials, from the "old" city cemetery, St Mary's Cemetery and from various private family
burial plots and cemeteries.
There are four cemeteries with in Greenwood Cemetery. These
include Greenwood proper, Sinai Cemetery (Jewish), Calvary Cemetery (Catholic)
and the Islamic Cemetery.
The St. Stanislaus Cemetery (Polish) is across the street (Greenwood
Avenue) on the south side of Greenwood Cemetery. Although confused as part of
Greenwood Cemetery,
it is really a cemetery with in its own right and is not
connected with burials at Greenwood.
Credits and thank you's mentioned in the INDEX GREENWOOD CEMETERY Burial Books 1873 - 1950 for those who donated their time in transcribing, Typing and proofreading are: Cheri Babbitt Jones, Janet Czizek Dolson, Nancy Nichols Irk, Sally Lundmark Janowski, Monica Zeese Nowatzke, Carun Tolchinsky Glossinger, Leona Schmock Minke. With thanks also to the Reference Department staff of the Michigan City Public Library, LaPorte County Health Department's Lavelda Faull and Bernard Burns, Superintendent of Greenwood Cemetery (1988) and Marvella Baines and Mary Frances Mitchell.
An additional thank you
from this transcriber, Deanna West, to Mark Tomsheck, Superintendent of
Greenwood Cemetery and Janet Tomsheck for their patience and
information. Russell Hapke, MA archaeologist and myself, Deanna West,
will be transcribing earlier and later burials as they become
available. If anyone has information on the re-burials from the "Old
Cemetery of Michigan City" or would like to donate obituaries for
burials at Greenwood cemetery go to our news page. Patricia Gruse
Harris has also written a book of many of the researched known burials
moved from the Old Buryal Ground of Michigan City, IN. See our publications listing for details on how to obtain a copy.