Eloise Cemetery

The first notation made of an institutional cemetery was in 1892 when the Hospital arranged with Catholic Bishop John Samuel Foley to move bodies which had been buried northwest of the County House to an island in the middle of the reservoir.{{cite book |last=Keenan |first=Stanislas M. |title=History of Eloise |year=1913 |publisher=Thos. Smith Press |location=Detroit |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001576348 |pages=70, 73, 125, 267, 375 |access-date=May 10, 2014 |archive-date=May 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512221707/http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001576348 |url-status=live }} This move was made to enable the first paving of Michigan Avenue which occurred in 1910. Part of the artificial lake at that time had to be filled in.{{cite book|last=Clark|first=Alvin C.|title=A History of the Wayne County Infirmary, Psychiatric, and General Hospital Complex at Eloise Michigan|year=1982|publisher=Wayne County General Hospital}} There were actually two other cemeteries that were used to bury Eloise patients after the turn of the century. The first was on the northeast corner of farmland south of Michigan Avenue and one further south on the farm site facing Henry Ruff Road.{{cite book|last=Clark|first=Alvin C.|title=A History of the Wayne County Infirmary, Psychiatric, and General Hospital Complex at Eloise, Michigan|year=1982|pages=114}} The second cemetery is surrounded by pine trees and is the one used from 1910 to 1948.

In effect, this was operated as a "Potter's Field", that is a publicly run place to bury the poor unclaimed dead at the public expense.{{cite news|url=http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CEMETERY/1998-11/0910045416 |title=Forgotten cemetery blocks development: County perplexed over use of Eloise site |newspaper=The Detroit News |date=November 1, 1998 |publisher=Roots web |access-date=May 5, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509091223/http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CEMETERY/1998-11/0910045416 |archive-date=May 9, 2014 |url-status=live }}

In the early days patients were buried by inmates or employees of the institution. In 1937 the contract was given to Charles C. Diggs, Sr., who founded "The House of Diggs" (reputed to be Michigan's largest funeral home at one time) and a politician,{{cite news |title=Charles Diggs Dies at 75 |first1=Richard |last1=Pearson |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=August 26, 1998 |page=B06 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/junkie/links/diggs.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509091417/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/junkie/links/diggs.htm |archive-date=May 9, 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=May 3, 2014}} to handle burials in the cemetery and transfers to Wayne State University School of Medicine as state law mandated that these functions be handled or supervised by a licensed mortician. Charles Diggs, Jr., then 15 years old, would drive his mother from Detroit to the morgue which was a red brick building at Eloise called the round house because of its shape and they would prepare the body for burial. White sheets were used to line the wooden coffins and, unless the patient had clothing, they were covered in another white sheet. If family or friends were present there would be an interment service; if not the deceased would just be buried by inmates.{{cite book|last=Latzman|first=Elaine|title=Untold Tales, Unsung Heroes, An Oral History of Detroit's African American Community 1918–1967|date=1994|location=Detroit, Michigan|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=0814324657|pages=[https://archive.org/details/untoldtalesunsun0000moon/page/53 53–54]|url=https://archive.org/details/untoldtalesunsun0000moon/page/53}}

About 7,100 people were buried in the Eloise cemetery between 1910 and 1948. These were patients who died at the institution and had no known relatives or relatives who were unwilling or unable to bury them. Only numbered blocks identify the graves. After 1948 all unclaimed bodies were sent to the Wayne State University College of Medicine and no further burials were made there.{{cite book |first1=Patricia |last1=Ibbotson |type=Paperback |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |date=June 2, 2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TlYWPyoTFhMC&q=eloise+cemetery&pg=PA94 |title=Eloise: Poorhouse, Farm, Asylum and Hospital 1839–1984 |location=Charleston, SC |isbn=978-0738519548 |page=94 |access-date=October 24, 2020 |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429193209/https://books.google.com/books?id=TlYWPyoTFhMC&q=eloise+cemetery&pg=PA94#v=snippet&q=eloise%20cemetery&f=false |url-status=live }} Burial records in the late 1920s and 1930s were especially problematical or nonexistent. For example, "There were only four extant death records for 1934."{{cite web

|url=http://dsgr.org/cemeteryRecords.php?cid=32

|title=Eloise Cemetery

|work=dsgr.org

|publisher=Detroit Society for Genealogical Research

|date=May 5, 2014

|first=Patricia

|last=Ibbotson

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509091814/http://dsgr.org/cemeteryRecords.php?cid=32

|archive-date=May 9, 2014

|url-status=live

|access-date=May 5, 2014

}} The names of over 4,000 of the 7,100 people buried in the cemetery{{cite web

|url=http://www.michmarkers.com/startup.asp?startpage=S0699.htm

|title=Eloise

|work=michmarkers.com

|id=Michigan Historical Markers Registered Site S0699

|date=October 15, 2007

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509092312/http://www.michmarkers.com/startup.asp?startpage=S0699.htm

|archive-date=May 9, 2014

|url-status=usurped

|access-date=May 4, 2014

}} were added to Find A Grave.{{efn-ua|The names were obtained by going through the death certificates on [http://www.seekingmichigan.com Seeking Michigan website] and going through original death certificates in the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library. In addition there were ledgers kept by the hospital on deaths of patients used to record names of some burials.{{cite web

|url=http://dsgr.org/cemeteryRecords.php?cid=32

|title=Eloise Cemetery

|publisher=Detroit Society for Genealogical Research

|access-date=May 5, 2014

|archive-date=May 9, 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509091814/http://dsgr.org/cemeteryRecords.php?cid=32

|url-status=live

}} See {{cite web

|url=http://creativegene.blogspot.com/2006/10/records-for-eloise-wayne-county.html

|title=Records for Eloise (Wayne County, Michigan)

|author=Jasia

|date=October 2, 2006

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509102812/http://creativegene.blogspot.com/2006/10/records-for-eloise-wayne-county.html

|archive-date=May 9, 2014

|url-status=live

|access-date=May 5, 2014

}}{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=454 |title=Eloise Cemetery |publisher=Ancestry.com LLC |date=May 5, 2014 |work=Find a Grave |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509103330/http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=454 |archive-date=May 9, 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=May 5, 2014 }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppQxuAAACAAJ |title=Burials in the Eloise Cemetery, and Removals to Medical Schools, Westland, Wayne County, Michigan, 1935–1943 |publisher=P. Ibbotson |first1=Patricia |last1=Ibbotson |author2=Friends of Eloise |oclc=753956594 |year=2011 |access-date=May 5, 2014 |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429193217/https://books.google.com/books?id=ppQxuAAACAAJ |url-status=live }}}}

Patricia Ibbotson worked as a nurse at Eloise before it was closed. She is also the author of the book, Eloise: Poorhouse, Farm, Asylum and Hospital 1839–1984. She raised money for the historic marker.Clem 2007 Observer{{cite book |first1=Patricia |last1=Ibbotson |type=Paperback |pages=128 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |date= 2002 |title=Eloise: Poorhouse, Farm, Asylum and Hospital 1839–1984 |location=Charleston, SC |isbn=978-0738519548}} She also wrote Detroit's Hospitals, Healers and Helpers which has an entire chapter of captioned photos of Eloise.{{cite book |first1=Patricia |last1=Ibbotson |pages=128 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |location=Charleston, SC |date= 2004 |title=Detroit's Hospitals, Healers and Helpers |type=Softcover |isbn= 978-0738532233}}

From the 19th century, the cemetery was a source of cadavers, after body snatching, which were used by medical students at the University of Michigan. From 1948, the laws were changed so that the hospital became a ready source and bodies were sent to Detroit Medical College.

The cemetery is owned and maintained by Wayne County. It is fenced and there are "No Trespassing" signs posted. The graves are marked by numbered markers and the names of most of the people buried there have been lost to history. However, presently 6,158 of the burials are now on FindAGrave.

The field lay forgotten and neglected, especially since the last burial (in one of the three plots) was in 1948; it now stands in the way of other uses, and is seen as a responsibility by Wayne County commissioners who are perplexed over use of the Eloise site.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} The presence of over 7,000 marked but unnamed graves {{mdash}} and the absence of many supporting records {{mdash}} is potentially an insuperable obstacle to any future development.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}

Similar situations exist. In 1989, former, Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young abandoned a plan to expand Detroit City Airport's runway because the adjoining Gethsemane Cemetery blocked the way, and outraged relatives protested. As a result, a few years later Southwest Airlines ended its operations there, citing the city's inability to keep its promises and the need for longer runways to accommodate larger jet aircraft.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/30/us/detroit-journal-must-cemetery-yield-to-airport.html |title=Detroit Journal; Must Cemetery Yield to Airport? |first1=Isabel |last1=Wilkerson |at=Special to The New York Times |date=March 30, 1988 |newspaper=The New York Times |location=New York |issn=0362-4331 |oclc=1645522 |others=Photo Credits: NYT/Peter Yates |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509094253/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/30/us/detroit-journal-must-cemetery-yield-to-airport.html |archive-date=May 9, 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=May 6, 2014 }}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/01/us/detroit-will-spare-cemetery-in-an-airport-expansion-plan.html |title=Detroit Will Spare Cemetery In an Airport Expansion Plan |newspaper=The New York Times |location=New York |issn=0362-4331 |oclc=1645522 |agency=Reuters |date=April 1, 1988 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509095422/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/01/us/detroit-will-spare-cemetery-in-an-airport-expansion-plan.html |archive-date=May 9, 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=May 7, 2014 }}{{cite news

|url=http://archives.californiaaviation.org/airport/msg20510.html

|date=March 20, 2002

|title=Mayor: Fix or shut Detroit City Airport: Kilpatrick wants $400 million for runway, terminal

|first1=Darci

|last1=McConnell

|first2=Cameron

|last2=McWhirter

|first3=Joel J.

|last3=Smith

|newspaper=The Detroit News

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509100059/http://archives.californiaaviation.org/airport/msg20510.html

|archive-date=May 9, 2014

|url-status=dead

|access-date=May 8, 2014

}} Likewise, in the 1980s, the Hamtramck, Michigan Poletown plant was built around Beth Olem, a/k/a The Smith Street Cemetery, a small Jewish cemetery.{{cite journal |url=http://www.michjewishhistory.org/pdfs/vol33.pdf |journal=Michigan Jewish History |volume=33 |date=Winter 1992 |first1=Milton |last1=Marwil |editor-first=Judith Levin |editor-last=Cantor |page=30 |title=The True Story of the Cemetery in the General Motors Parking Lot |publisher=Jewish Historical Society of Michigan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509100349/http://www.michjewishhistory.org/pdfs/vol33.pdf |archive-date=May 9, 2014 |url-status=dead |access-date=May 9, 2014 }} According to Frank Rembisz, former Hamtramck city council president, to move the cemetery, they needed to get surviving relatives's permission, and would have had to retain "Talmudic scholars from Israel to sift through the earth to make sure there were no remains left." General Motors decided the expense exceeded the benefit, and left it in place.{{efn-ua|Under Michigan law, disturbing a grave site or cemetery is a felony. There are substantial procedures concerning moving or abandoning a cemetery. Cemeteries are protected by Michigan law, and disinterment is prohibited and re-interment is strictly regulated, with requirements for notice and an opportunity to be heard, and for just compensation if there is an objection.{{cite web|url=http://www.wcl.american.edu/burial/mi.cfm |title=Michigan Annotations – Burial Law Project |publisher=American University Washington College of Law |work=wcl.american.edu |date=May 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509104227/http://www.wcl.american.edu/burial/mi.cfm |archive-date=May 9, 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=May 7, 2014 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/bcsc/forms/cem/cemlaw.pdf |title=Cemetery Law & Rules: Cemetery Regulation Act: Act 251 of 1968 |work=dleg.state.mi.us |date=November 4, 2002 |orig-year=1968 |publisher=Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs State of Michigan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509104834/http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/bcsc/forms/cem/cemlaw.pdf |archive-date=May 9, 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=May 9, 2014 }}}}

{{Reflist|group=upper-alpha}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0REqAgAAQBAJ&q=eloise&pg=PA154 |title=A Ghost Hunter's Field Guide|last1=Baldassarro |first1=R. Wolf |type=Paperback |publisher=lulu.com |date=2010 |isbn=978-0557050949 |page=154 |access-date=May 5, 2014}}
• {{cite book|last=Clark|first=Alvin C.|title=A History of the Wayne County Infirmary, Psychiatric, and General Hospital Complex at Eloise Michigan|year=1982|publisher=Wayne County General Hospital}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppQxuAAACAAJ |title=Burials in the Eloise Cemetery, and Removals to Medical Schools, Westland, Wayne County, Michigan, 1935–1943 |publisher=P. Ibbotson|first1=Patricia |last1=Ibbotson |author2=Friends of Eloise |oclc=753956594 |year=2011 |access-date=May 5, 2014}}
• {{cite book |first1=Patricia |last1=Ibbotson |pages=128 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |location=Charleston, SC |date=January 11, 2004 |title=Detroit's Hospitals, Healers and Helpers |type=Softcover |isbn= 978-0738532233}}
• {{cite book |first1=Patricia |last1=Ibbotson |type=Paperback |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |date=2002 |title=Eloise: Poorhouse, Farm, Asylum and Hospital 1839–1984 |location=Charleston, SC |isbn=978-0738519548}}
• {{cite book|last=Keenan|first=Stanislas M.|title=History of Eloise |year=1913|publisher=Thos. Smith Press|location=Detroit |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001576348 |pages=70, 73, 125, 267, 375 |access-date=May 10, 2014 }}
• {{cite book|last=Latzman|first=Elaine|title=Untold Tales, Unsung Heroes, An Oral History of Detroit's African American Community 1918–1967|date=March 1994|location=Detroit, Michigan|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=0814324657|pages=[https://archive.org/details/untoldtalesunsun0000moon/page/53 53–54]|url=https://archive.org/details/untoldtalesunsun0000moon/page/53}}

• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xd8hAQAAMAAJ |title=Report on analysis and survey of Eloise Hospital and Infirmary: prepared and issued by the County Research Bureau Division of Board of Wayne County Auditors |number=7 |author=Wayne Co., Mich. Board of County Auditors. Research Bureau |orig-year=1933 |date=2011 |publisher=University of Chicago |access-date=May 6, 2014}}

• [http://portraitsofeloise.blogspot.com/p/cemetery.html Caring for the County's Poor: a character repository of Eloise]
• {{cite web |url=http://dsgr.org/cemeteryRecords.php?cid=32 |title=Eloise Cemetery |publisher=Detroit Society for Genealogical Research |access-date=May 5, 2014}}
• {{Find a Grave cemetery}}
• {{cite web |url=http://creativegene.blogspot.com/2006/10/records-for-eloise-wayne-county.html |title=Records for Eloise (Wayne County, Michigan) |author=Jasia |date=October 2, 2006 |access-date=May 5, 2014}}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php?title=Eloise_Asylum |title=Eloise Asylum |publisher=Asylum Projects |access-date=May 7, 2014}} (According to this source, there were three cemeteries.)

{{Coord|42.28117|-83.33918|type:landmark_region:US-MI|display=title}}

Category:1892 establishments in Michigan

Category:Westland, Michigan

Category:Cemeteries established in the 1890s

Category:Cemeteries in Wayne County, Michigan