Prospect Hill Cemetery/Cheesman Park
Location | Downing ST, York ST, Colfax AVE, 8th AVE | Denver, Colorado
Founded | 1875
Current State | Abandoned, Currently Cheesman Park
In the late 19th century, the land that is now Cheesman Park was Prospect Hill Cemetery, which also included the land that is now the Denver Botanical Garden and Congress Park further east. The long-disused cemetery was converted to a park which opened in 1907, after city planners felt it would provide an amenity to new residents as land development moved east of the central city. The park was originally named for the US Congress who gave permission to change the cemetery to a park and was renamed Cheesman Park in honor of Denver pioneer Walter Cheesman whose family donated the funds for the neoclassical pavilion on the eastern side of the park in his honor shortly after his death.
Toledo Asylum For The Insane | Toledo State Hospital
Location | Along Arlington/Byrne Road, Toledo, Ohio
Years Active | 1888-1973
Current State | Demolished in 1981
2000 people where buried here when they were not claimed by family members. Their graves were not named, but numbered. In historical records the numbers are associated with names.
1922 the first cemetery was out of room
1973 the new cemetery was forgotten and left
Toledo State Hospital opened in January 1888 as the Toledo Asylum for the Insane. People were admitted with mild to severe forms of mental illness, and a variety of developmental, medical and neurological conditions, as well as for addictions, injuries, and old age. Originally built to house 650 people, by the 1950s its campus had grown to accommodate over 3,000. Growing access to new medications and treatments then began a gradual decline in patient population. Eventually, most of the buildings were razed, and much of the hospital’s property was transferred, later becoming the site of The Medical College of Ohio. This transfer included the two Toledo State Hospital cemeteries, with documented burials (as of 2009) totaling 1,994 persons. Toledo State Hospital New Cemetery was opened in 1922, when the Old Cemetery (1888-1922), located .5 miles to the northeast, reached capacity.
Old Agency Cemetery
Location: East Side of State Highway 69 just south of Muskogee Turnpike | Muskogee, Oklahoma
Founded: 1858
Current State: Abandoned, Neglected
The cemetery contains the remains of African Creek people who were part of the force removal to Indian Territory in the 1830’s and who were enslaved by the Muscogee Creek Nation Tribe. In 1866 these people were freed by the Treaty of 1866 and went on to be prominent citizens of the Muscogee Nation.
Taken from the Indian Pioneer Papers Project was written in the late 1930s and the 70 years since that time have show even more neglect. In the 1990s the Oklahombres organization in an attempt to locate the grave of the US Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves, a small marker bearing his name was put in this cemetery, in a small part of the cemetery where access was made. To access this cemetery, one must trespass over private property behind a truck repair mechanic's property. Despite efforts to persons in the city and with the tourism areas in Muskogee no efforts have been made to clear and to restore this critical site, which historically deserves to be put on the National Register of historic places because it is a testament to an African-Native American community unlike any other in the country.
