Lafayette Cemetery

Lafayette Cemetery was established in 1828 on the block between Federal and Wharton Streets and 9th and 10th Avenues{{cite book |last1=Scharf |first1=John Thomas |title=History of Philadelphia, 1609–1884 |date=1884 |publisher=L.H. Everts & Co. |location=Philadelphia |page=2359 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8uYkAAAAYAAJ }} in what was then Passyunk Township, later renamed the Passyunk Square neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Honorable Joel Barlow Sutherland was one of the founders.{{cite book |title=An Historical Catalogue of the St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia |date=1907 |publisher=The St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia |location=Philadelphia |pages=336–337 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q9pS4mIGrjsC&pg=PA337 }}

Lafayette Cemetery was a part of the United States National Cemetery System during the American Civil War with a leased lot within the cemetery for soldiers that died in nearby hospitals. The cemetery contained the graves 28 Union soldiers, many of which were reinterred to the Philadelphia National Cemetery in 1885.{{cite book |title=Roll of Honor: Names of Soldiers who died in Defence of the American Union, Interred in the National Cemeteries and Other Burial Places |date=1868 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington |pages=159–160 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4Z4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA159 }}{{cite book |last=Holt |first=Dean W. |title=American Military Cemeteries, 2d ed. |publisher=McFarland |year=2009 |pages=397 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UtGA-cP3-HsC&pg=PA233 |isbn=978-0786440238}} See p. 233.

The cemetery was originally designed to hold 14,000 bodies and was surrounded by an iron fence.{{cite book |title=Executive Documents Printed by Order of The House of Representatives 1879-'71 |date=1871 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington |page=233 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hHtBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA233 }} By 1946, it was in disrepair and overcrowded with 47,000 bodies. The city wanted to close the cemetery as early as the 1920s but the Great Depression and World War II delayed the process.{{cite book |last1=Keels |first1=Thomas H. |title=Wicked Philadelphia: Sin in the City of Brotherly Love |date=2010 |publisher=The History Press |location=Charleston, SC |isbn=978-1-61423-105-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yagjCgAAQBAJ}}

In the 1940s, the city condemned Lafayette Cemetery to transform it into a playground. The city contracted with Thomas A. Morris to relocate the remains to 40 acres{{cite book |last1=Oordt |first1=Darcy |title=Haunted Philadelphia: Famous Phantoms, Sinister Sites, and Lingering Legends |date=2015 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Guilford, Connecticut |isbn=978-1-4930-1579-5 |page=247 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FFAiCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 }} at Evergreen Memorial Park in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. The agreement was for Morris to provide caskets, bronze markers, roadways and perpetual care at the new cemetery location. Morris had also agreed to build a statue to the Marquis de Lafayette in the new cemetery. Morris received full title to the cemetery property, assessed at $166,000, and immediately sold it back to the city for use as a playground for the price of $200,000.

There are no records of the removal and reburial of the bodies since they were not required by the state until 1953. Evergreen Memorial Park went out of business and became part of Rosedale Cemetery in 1960.{{cite news |title=Monument planned for unmarked graves |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19451650/monument-for-lafayette-cemetery-1898/ |date=March 16, 1989 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=3 May 2021}}

In 1988, construction near Rosedale Cemetery unearthed two concrete burial vaults containing several unidentified bodies.{{cite web |title=Mystery of 47,000 Unmarked Graves in Bensalem Cemetery |url=https://apnews.com/article/c09afeb87c2bfaa694febe50d35c2f2e |website=www.apnews.com |publisher=Associated Press |access-date=29 April 2021}} Further examination of the Evergreen Memorial Park site revealed that Morris had not honored the agreement but instead the bodies were reinterred in wooden boxes stacked in 32{{cite web |last1=Hahn |first1=Ashley |title=Where the dead once lay, Philly kids now play |url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/Where_philly_kids_now_play_the_dead_once_lay.html |newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=7 August 2013 |access-date=29 April 2021}} mass grave trenches{{cite web |last1=Haas |first1=Kimberly |title=Playing on Hallowed Ground: Hidden Cemeteries and the Modern City |date=10 February 2020 |url=https://hiddencityphila.org/2020/02/playing-on-hallowed-ground-hidden-cemeteries-and-the-modern-city/ |publisher=Hidden City |access-date=28 April 2021}} with no markers, roads, or statue of Lafayette.

File:Capitolo Playground.jpg

The former location of Lafayette Cemetery is used by the city of Philadelphia as the Capitolo Playground.

• Charles Deakin (1837-1865), Medal of Honor recipient
• Matthew McClelland (1832-1883), Medal of Honor recipient
• Edward B. Young (1835-1867), Medal of Honor recipient

Citations

{{Reflist}}

Sources

• {{cite book

| last = Keels

| first = Thomas H.

| year = 2003

| title = Philadelphia Graveyards & Cemeteries

| publisher = Arcadia Publishing

| isbn = 0-7385-1229-X

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rzNvCR4_-2YC&q=pauline+oberdorfer+minor

}}

• [https://www.phila.gov/parks-rec-finder/#/location/capitolo-playground/56a8f85a7a8cee5e3a25b03b Philadelphia Parks & Recreation - Capitolo Playground]
• [https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1909817 Lafayette Cemetery] at Find A Grave
• [http://thecemeterytraveler.blogspot.com/2011/12/condemned-lafayette-cemetery.html The Cemetery Traveler - The Condemned Lafayette Cemetery]
• [https://www.rosedalememorialpark.com/ Rosedale Memorial Park]
• [https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p15037coll3/id/455/ Temple University Libraries - Temple Digital Collections - Lafayette Cemetery]

Category:1828 establishments in Pennsylvania

Category:1947 disestablishments in Pennsylvania

Category:Cemeteries established in the 1820s

Category:Cemeteries in Bucks County, Pennsylvania

Category:Cemeteries in Philadelphia

Category:Former cemeteries

Category:Mass graves in the United States

Category:Municipal parks in Philadelphia

Category:Passyunk Square, Philadelphia

Category:United States national cemeteries