The history of the site traces its beginnings to 1821, the platting of Indianapolis as a capitol city. Alexander Ralston laid out the town in the wilderness based on a mile square with four streets radiating from the circle; one of these four, Kentucky Avenue, stretched from the center to the southwest. Along Kentucky Avenue, the state set aside land for Indianapolis’ first graveyard just outside that mile square in a wooded area along the White River (Encyclopedia of Indianapolis 2021; Sulgrove 1884:385), as shown on a plat map from 1831. It was here that the Anglo-Ameri-can settlers first interred the dead (Indiana State Board of Accounts 1831: Index, 31). Over the next decades the burial ground grew in size with increases in population.
By 1834, the old burying ground was proving to be inadequate, and the “new graveyard” or Union Cemetery was laid out in regular lots for sale. Holloway’s History of Indianapolis says that the old burying ground “became almost obsolete” except for those “not seeking, or not being allowed, participation in the new one” (Holloway 1870:79). Two more areas were added to the land of the cemetery before the Civil War: Siter Price & Co.’s 8.5-acre addition in 1838 (called Green Lawn Cemetery); and E.J. Peck’s7.5 acres in 1852 (Munsell 1852; Holloway 1870:261). E. J. Peck was the president of the Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railway (TH&I, later part of the Vandalia System) (Holloway 1870:261; Sulgrove 1884:385). The railroad would later reclaim some of the land from the cemetery (Holloway 1870:79). In 1860, a plan was submitted that showed “Green Lawn” as an area of regular lots connected by curvilinear streets (Marion County Recorder’s Office 1860). Those who owned cemetery plots and the proprietors bore the expense of keeping the grounds at that time (Holloway 1870:261).
In 1862, the federal government purchased a small section of the Greenlawn addition along the river for Confederate burials (Holloway 1870:79; National Cemetery Association 2016: 100-111). During the Civil War, nearly 3,000 soldiers were interred at the City Cemetery, as all these various cemetery additions were collectively called at that time, about 1,600 of which were Confederate soldiers and about 1,300 Union soldiers. Union soldiers’ graves were relocated shortly after the war (Encyclopedia of Indiana- polis 2021). In 1870, the TH&I purchased the land to build an engine house (Holloway 1870: 79). While some families of the fallen Confederates claimed bodies after the war, the bulk of graves were not moved until the 1930s to Crown Hill Cemetery (Indianapolis Star 1964). Crown Hill had been established in 1863 (Encyclopedia of Indianapolis 2021).
Subsequent years saw a failure of the cemetery’s owners to maintain the graveyard. Newspapers of the day published stories of abuses at the cemetery including neglect of the grave yard, unauthorized burials, and squatters living behind the cemetery (Indianapolis News 1890). An ordinance was passed in 1890 making it unlawful to inter bodies there but both funeral directors and families continued interring the deceased in graves and in their vaults within the cemetery (Brown and Thornton 1904:335-337).
In 1894, Union Cemetery was donated to the City for a park (Indianapolis Journal 1894). That same year, the City passed an ordinance declaring Greenlawn a public nuisance. In the ordinance, the City described the cemetery’s state of “decay and neglect,” declaring that it has become the “resort of evil persons, who thereby escape police surveillance and arrest, and also there indulge in lewd, vicious and immoral conduct….” (Brown and Thornton 1904: 335- 337). The order required the removal of all corpses and other contents from vaults, followed by the removal or destruction of vaults (Brown and Thornton 1904:336).
In 1897, the City Park Commission took possession of Greenlawn for the new park (Indianapolis Journal 1897). “Several bodies were removed by relatives and many tombstones [were] straightened up” at that time. Kentucky Avenue was regraded and “several thousand loads of soil” was brought to the site in order to make it suitable for a park (Board of Park Commissioners 1897:241-242). Beautification efforts included the construction of a fence, graveling and edging walkways, and constructing a tool house (1898), seating (circa 1904), lighting (circa 1911), and tennis courts (1913) (Board of Park Commissioners 1898:124-125, 1904:188, 1911:298, 1913:53-54). The area along White River where no graves were located “was filled as rapidly as possible with material from cellars and street excavations” (Board of Park Commissioners 1899:163).
Mapping shows Greenlawn Park as part of the existing park system in proposals for the Indianapolis Park and Boulevard System (Board of Park Commissioners 1910:191). However, in 1911, the Board passed a resolution to remove “all lamps, benches, buildings and other property belonging to the City,” from the northeast portion of Greenlawn where the city did not own the property, following a decree by the Superior Court of Marion County (Board of Park Commissioners 1911:298). The incorporation of the Greenlawn land into the Indianapolis Park system was planned, begun, but not realized.
Instead, the land served other purposes. A few dwellings and the slaughterhouse for Charles J. Gardner Meats were established just south of the Vandalia Round House (Indianapolis City Directory 1910:563; Sanborn 1914: Sheets 1,2).
Subsequent years saw a failure of the cemetery’s owners to maintain the graveyard. Newspapers of the day published stories of abuses at the cemetery including neglect of the grave yard, unauthorized burials, and squatters living behind the cemetery (Indianapolis News 1890). An ordinance was passed in 1890 making it unlawful to inter bodies there but both funeral directors and families continued interring the deceased in graves and in their vaults within the cemetery (Brown and Thornton 1904:335-337).
In 1914, the Federal League Baseball Stadium was built to serve as the ballpark for the Indianapolis Hoosiers baseball team (Lamb 2021). The stadium was constructed of steel and concrete with a capacity of more than 20,000, but the park was destined to be short-term since the championship team was relocated to Newark in 1915 (Lamb 2021).
After that, the stadium hosted occasional games for the City’s Black baseball team, the Indianapolis ABCs, but closed in 1916 after a consortium of freight haulers purchased the grounds ( Lamb 2021; Mitchell 2016).
The next year, Diamond Chain Company purchased the parcel to the north of the park (Out Lot 134) for its new building (Indianapolis News 1917; Indianapolis Star 1917) and construction was begun on the warehouses for freight depots (Out Lot 133) (Indianapolis News 1923).
Removal of human remains occurred as the land changed ownership. In 1911, the newspaper documented the removal of burials from the 7.5 acres of land in the northeast corner of the cemetery as the land passed back to the heirs of E.J. Peck (Indianapolis News 1911). Later, in 1924, removal of bodies from the old burying ground occurred. The majority were without stones and remained unidentified. Most of these remains were reinterred at Floral Park with fewer at Holy Cross and still fewer at Crown Hill (Indianapolis News 1923).
Industry and warehousing continued to be the main activity at the burial ground over the twentieth century, as the Diamond Chain Company expanded to encompass all of Out lots 133 and 134 (Indianapolis Star 1967).