"of the city, of easy access . . . retired, in its locality, from the busy and bustling scenes of life, and wholly out of reach of the extending growth of our City . . . "28 The cemetery has since been passed by the growing city, but its permanence has never been doubted and development has generally avoided its immediate vicinity.
If the North Graveyard reached a plateau in
its growth or existence in the late 1840's, the 1850's can be described as
a period in which its exposure on the plateau opened it to the buffeting
of the winds, which at times blew in opposing directions. On one hand,
some citizens wanted the grounds maintained as a graveyard and improved,
while on the other hand there were those who wanted the grounds closed to
interments or completely abandoned as a graveyard.
On May 27, 1852 City Council unanimously
moved that the superintendent have constructed a substantial picket or
paling fence with cedar or locust posts on the north and west sides of the
graveyard. On the following October 1 the motion was revised to provide
for a "Tight board fence," which Mr. McCoy reported to be in place, at a
cost of $222.57, by November 8.29 In April
of 1853 D. W. Deshler and others petitioned council "for the improvement
and beautifying of the North Grave-yard." The petition was referred to a
committee which reported back a request that $700 be spent on improvements
to both graveyards; the report was tabled.30
Upon the opening of Green Lawn Cemetery,
persons owning lots there began to have the remains of their deceased
relatives removed from the North Graveyard. City Council passed an
amendment to the graveyard ordinance to regulate these removals on August
11, 1851. According to this ordinance, the sextons of the two graveyards
were in charge of and were to be paid for removals, though they were not
required to convey the remains beyond the limits of the graveyards. They
were also required to fill up the empty graves and to keep the surface of
the ground smooth and even. For the first time, penalties were provided
for any person violating the ordinance, including the sextons, who were
liable to a fine and removal from office. Voluntary removals were made
very slowly in these years; a report of the Green Lawn Cemetery
Association dated January 1, 1858 reported that of 1,079 burials to date,
247 were removals,31 a very low number,
considering that the cemetery had been open for over eight years.
Council considered speeding up this process
when it resolved32 on May 28, 1853 that the
standing committee on graveyards "Report to this Council the expediency of
providing for the removal of the Remains in the North Graveyard of this
city to Green Lawn Cemetery, and the reclamation of said premises from the
purposes of a Burial Ground." Nothing of substance seems to have come of
this resolution but the idea was partially revived in 1856.
18