Calvary Cemetery (Cleveland)

Oldest grave in Calvary Cemetery, Cleveland, OH

Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. The cemetery straddles the border between Cleveland and the city of Garfield Heights, with its offices within the city limits of Cleveland. Calvary Cemetery is the largest Catholic cemetery in Cleveland, and one of the largest in Ohio.

About the cemetery

The early stone receiving vault

In 1892, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland purchased approximately 105 acres (420,000 m2)[1][2][3] of land east of Broadway Avenue in what was then Newburgh Township. The cost of the land was $600 ($14,890 in 2016 dollars).[4] Formerly the Leand farm, it was named Calvary Cemetery.[5] Toledo cemetery designer, horticulturist, and cemetery superintendent Frank Eurich[6] designed Calvary as a lawn cemetery.[7] The land was regraded and other initial improvements made by The William H. Evers Engineering Company.[8] Calvary Cemetery was consecrated on November 26, 1893.[3][9]

Within just a few years, the cemetery featured a stone receiving vault, waiting room at the entrance, and a number of roads.[7] A streetcar spur ran adjacent to the cemetery, allowing caskets and funeral parties to reach the cemetery by electric train.[4]

Tunnel beneath the railroad tracks

Initially, the cemetery was bounded on its east side by the Connotton Valley Railway, whose tracks were laid in 1882.[10] An additional purchase of land east of the railroad tracks was made in 1900. Various figures have been cited for the size of this property: 50 acres (200,000 m2),[11][12] 200 acres (810,000 m2),[13] and 250 acres (1,000,000 m2).[14] Fifty acres appears to be the best figure, and is supported by an industry trade journal which reported the cemetery's total size as a total 160 acres (650,000 m2) in 1900.[7][lower-alpha 1] Additional land was acquired by 1908, giving the cemetery either 250 acres (1,000,000 m2)[15] or 300 acres (1,200,000 m2) of total land.[16] The cemetery acquired the 13 acres (53,000 m2) Quigley farm and the 9 acres (36,000 m2) Stegkemper tract in 1910.[17] Calvary's reported size was 350 acres (1,400,000 m2) in 1936.[18] The streetcar line was torn up in 1947, and the 30 by 2,248 feet (9.1 by 685.2 m) strip of land sold to the cemetery for $600 ($6,435 in 2016 dollars).[4] Calvary Cemetery reportedly still had more than 300 acres (1,200,000 m2) of land in 2007.[2][19]

As of 2007, there were over 305,000 interments at Calvary Cemetery.[2] The first burials, of John and Catharine Hogan, were on November 30, 1893. Husband and wife, they died one day apart and were buried in section 10.[2] The largest number of burials occurred on November 4, 1918, during the Spanish flu pandemic. There were 81 burials that day. The total number of interments that month was 985.[9] The cemetery contains the Commonwealth war graves of two World War I soldiers of the Canadian Army.[20]

Calvary Cemetery is the largest Catholic cemetery in Cleveland,[21] and operated by the Catholic Cemeteries Association.[19]

Notable interments

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Only 40 acres (160,000 m2) were improved, however.[7]
Citations
  1. ↑ Hynes 1953, p. 490.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Vigil 2007, p. 24.
  3. 1 2 "God's Acre Opened By Catholics With Many Solemn Ceremonies". The Plain Dealer. November 27, 1893. p. 4.
  4. 1 2 3 Hawkins, Larry (October 2, 1947). "Dead-Duck Lots Make Gravy for C.T.S. Now". The Plain Dealer. pp. 1, 5.
  5. ↑ Avery 1918, p. 612.
  6. ↑ Visser & Jayne 2015, p. 15.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Annual Convention of Cemetery Superintendents". The Monumental News. October 1900. p. 559. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  8. ↑ Orth 1910a, p. 179.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Calvary Cemetery". The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. February 16, 2005. Retrieved April 19, 2009.
  10. ↑ Sanders 2014, p. 119.
  11. ↑ Orth 1910b, p. 213.
  12. ↑ "Bishop Horstmann Dies As Recovery Seems Near". The Plain Dealer. May 14, 1908. pp. 1, 2.
  13. ↑ Avery 1918, p. 90.
  14. ↑ "Catholic Church Grows To 175,000". The Plain Dealer. May 23, 1916. p. 11.
  15. ↑ The Catholic Encyclopedia 1908, p. 57.
  16. ↑ "Extend Cemetery Before Thousands". The Plain Dealer. October 26, 1908. p. 6.
  17. ↑ "Deeds Filed For Cemetery". The Plain Dealer. October 15, 1910. p. 16.
  18. ↑ "New Type Grass Defeats Winter". The Plain Dealer. March 15, 1936. p. 27.
  19. 1 2 DeBus, Bill; Bonchak, Jean (February 4, 2013). "Cemeteries deal with growing popularity of cremation". The News-Herald. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  20. ↑ CWGC Cemetery report, details from casualty record.
  21. ↑ Anderson 2017, p. x.
  22. 1 2 3 Vigil 2007, p. 26.
  23. 1 2 3 Vigil 2007, p. 25.
  24. ↑ "Tests 'Miracles' of 'Singing Grave'". The Plain Dealer. November 11, 1936. p. 24.
  25. ↑ Vigil 2007, p. 27.
  26. ↑ Vigil 2007, p. 28.

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