History of Greenwood Cemetery
Updated December 31, 2012



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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.

Greenwood Map