Mt Elliott Cemetery

Story

The Eastside Historic Cemetery District is a historic district bounded by Elmwood Avenue, Mt. Elliott Avenue, Lafayette Street, and Waterloo Street in Detroit, Michigan. The district consists of three separate cemeteries: Mount Elliott Cemetery (Catholic, established 1841), Elmwood Cemetery (Protestant, established 1846), and the Lafayette Street Cemetery (Jewish, established 1850). The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.Mount Elliott CemeteryMount Elliott Cemetery is the oldest extant cemetery in the city of Detroit, and contains 65acre. It is located on Mount Elliott Avenue just north of Lafayette Street.HistoryDetroit's Catholic community was originally heavily French in character. However, near the beginning of the 19th century, waves of immigration added other nationalities into the mix, notably Irish Catholics. In time, these Irish Catholics departed from the French-speaking Ste. Anne's and established their own parish. By 1840, they decided they wanted their own cemetery. In 1841, the parish purchased 12acre of farmland from the Leib farm for $400.The first burial in the cemetery occurred only twelve days after its establishment when Robert Elliott, an architect, judge, and founding member of the committee that created the cemetery, was laid to rest. He had been killed in a construction accident. The cemetery was christened "Mount Elliott" in his honor.A second parcel of land was purchased for the cemetery in 1865, and a third in 1881; this brought the size of the cemetery to its current 65acre. A stone gateway into the cemetery was completed the same year. In 1869, remains from Detroit's Ste. Anne Cemetery were moved and re-interred at Mount Elliott. Among the remains moved was Colonel Jean François Hamtramck.