Stuff about Minneapolis

Minneapolis Park Was A Cemetery At One Time

Did you know that Beltrami Park (Broadway & Fillmore St NE) in Minneapolis was once a cemetery? The park actually started out as Maple Hill Cemetery in 1857 and was the final resting place for over several thousand people including many Civil War veterans. The neighborhood surrounding the park was the old Italian section of Minneapolis, and many children used the cemetery as their playground. According to local legend, one night two youngsters took up all the old stone markers and threw them down the side of a hill. A short time later, the two boys sickened and died. The neighborhood mothers said that was a curse for disturbing the dead, an old Italian belief.

The cemetery never had the best management looking over things, so vandalism and poor bookkeeping were rampant, and led to the cemetery’s closure in 1891. In 1894 more than 1,000 bodies were moved to Sunset and Hillside cemeteries. In those days caskets were covered with glass, and as the men were digging up the bodies, you could hear the tinkle of glass breaking. And what did these men do when the glass broke? They reached into the casket and removed any rings and watches on the bodies.

Eventually the Minneapolis Park Board took over the land, and moved out most of the remaining graves and rededicated the area as Beltrami Park in 1947. Did you notice how I said most of the graves were moved? According to Genny Zak Kieley’s book “Roots and Ties”, not all the old residents have left the park….

There are still three old marked graves in the park. One is for a woman who died in 1862 at age 30; a second about 100 feet north, was simply marked, “My Husband.” The third is for Eldridge M. Tinny, age 47, who died in 1880.The Park Board moved to other cemetaries, the remains of those whose relatives could be located and gave permission. The other graves stayed. In 1973, the Park Board raised the sinking markers and set them in concrete.
At the north end of the park is a granite memorial to the 46 Civil War veterans buried there that reads: “Within the boundaries of this park, which in past days was Maple Hill Cemetery, there rest in the sleep of the ages 46 soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic. Courageously they responded to our country’s call of the war of the rebellion. gallantly they fought to achieve the victory. Although men’s thoughtless actions have deprived them of their right to individually marked and cherished graves, the children of future ages will gather here to honor them.”

Just a little something to think about the next time you are playing frisbee or hacky sack at Beltrami Park.

Happy Halloween Everyone!