Many of Erie’s residential and commercial buildings have been built on old abandoned graveyards. Some forgotten, others purposely desecrated. The land that composes the City of Erie has been a human habitat for thousands of years. The mound builders, who preceded the familiar Indian Tribes, are known to be some of the earliest inhabitants of the region. The tradition historical record has been that when white settlers came to the territory they encountered the large Indian mounds and attributed them to the recently dispersed Erie tribe, or an unknown race. The settlers quickly claimed the land for farming, and many of these mounds were ploughed over into the fields that would later yield to the development of Erie. Over time, some built houses on these fields, not even knowing it was a burial ground. These early settlers also uncovered vast tracts of Indian burial grounds within the county, and the city itself. Some were sure that the City of Erie itself was a scene of a massive battle, for the sheer number of remains, believed to be Native American, that were unearthed, was striking.
A large graveyard was uncovered downtown Erie in the early 19th Century when the link of the Erie to Pittsburgh railroad from the Lake Shore road to the dock at Erie was in process of construction, the laborers dug into a great mass of bones at the crossing of the public road which ran by a rolling mill. On account of the superstitious notions that prevailed among the workers, none of the skeletons were preserved.
The remains from this massive burial were irreverently thrown into a ravine further down the road. Another similar sight on the old Warfel farm (near the area of Warfel Avenue) was also discovered and desecrated by railroad workers and the remains, likewise, disposed of in a ditch.
Earlier in history, before Colonel Seth Reed and his family arrived in Erie, churches began to sprout up in the frontier wilderness of Fort Presque Isle. After a half century of communion for local parishioners, the churches either thrived and or moved on, leaving their graveyards to the wilderness and the settlers who came after them.
Fort Presque Isle Graveyard
This graveyard was situated west of lower Parade Street, near the sight of the French Fort Presque Isle. A small community of about two hundred French families had sprung up around the Fort and the cemetery, along with a tiny chapel was founded in 1753 to accommodate the first western settler to die in the region Jean Baptiste Texier. The graveyard and community was abandoned when the French retreated from the area. All buildings along with the Fort were burnt to the ground after the British victory at the Battle of Fort Niagara in 1759.
Portage Road Burials
Erie Town Graveyard
Beginning in 1801, this graveyard was established on the bluffs somewhere within of the area where Parade Street ends and where Mill Creek empties into Presque Isle bay. Bodies were buried there until 1805, when it was abandoned.
Erie Insurance Arena Graveyard
In 1805, three lots were set aside for burial at the southeast corner of 8th and French streets. The entire community used it until 1827, when the graveyard and lots were taken over by the United Presbyterian Church. It was once again sold in 1862, and the bodies were re-interned at the Erie Cemetery on West 26th Street. There were rumors about the community by those who claimed the many unmarked graves remained in the lots as the business district moved into the sight. Erie Insurance Arena (originally called Erie Civic Center and then Louis J. Tullio Arena) opened on the site in 1983.
The Lost Graveyards of Churches
Presbyterian Church from 1836 to 1851, on the Corner of West 7th and Myrtle streets.
Episcopal graveyard from 1830 to 1851, west side of West 8th and Myrtle streets.
St. John’s Lutheran graveyard from 1836 to 1851, located between West 22nd to West 23rd, between Peach and Sassafras streets.
Catholic graveyard from 1835-1845, at the corner of East 3rd and German streets.
St. Mary’s Catholic graveyard 1839-1852, at East 9th and German streets, now where church and school sit.
The old St. Patrick graveyard 1850-1852, on West 24th and Myrtle streets, now where St. Vincent’s Hospital stands.
Most of these graveyards moved their bodies to either Erie Cemetery or Trinity Cemetery, but there were also rumors of lost bodies still resting at the old locations.
The Erie County Almshouse Cemetery
From 1871 to 1918, the County Almshouse stood on 105 acres of property that was given to Erie County by the State of Pennsylvania. The institution was bordered by Pittsburgh Avenue to the East, West 26th Street to the south, and West 21st Street to the north. During this time 690 people were buried in the cemetery that lied along Pittsburgh Avenue. In 1977, 443 bodies were removed to Dolbler Farm Potters field, but 247 of the Almshouse residents still remain buried under the end of West 23rd Street and Pittsburgh Avenue. Many are under businesses and the roads themselves.
Indian Graveyards and Mounds
There are many documented graveyards, and mounds of Native American origins, that were obliterated and consumed by the city.
One large area just south of the Warfel farm was an Iroquoian burial ground where at the end of the 19th century children would dig up bones from the burial ground in their natural curiosity to explore the area; today roughly, what is now McClelland Avenue, from 38th Street, to Buffalo Road.
The corner of 23rd and Cascade streets was revealed to be a burial ground when housing was put in during the late 1920s.
There was an Indian burial ground on the northeast corner of Buffalo and Water Street, until it was ploughed over in the late 19th century to make room for commercial buildings.
There are undoubtedly many more small family or communal graveyards that have faded into forgotten history.
There is a cultural prohibition on desecrating graveyards. The Native Americans had them, as did the Europeans. The early settlers to Erie County, in their pursuit of Manifest Destiny, did not only have no problem with defying the prohibition, in their desecration of Indian graves, they were also receptive to building on land that was consecrated for the burial of the pioneers themselves.