The Parish Cemetery

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Despite several attempts to move it, the cemetery has remained on parish grounds since 1861 With financial concerns taken care of, the parish began looking into specific building objectives.

Preliminary plans included tearing down the stone church to build a new structure. This would require moving the parish cemetery, which began with the 1861 burials of Elizabeth Adams and Daniel Doyle. It had grown around the frame church and first school, and many parish founders were buried there. When the church and school were razed, that area was added to the cemetery.

The new plots sold quickly, and in 1918 the parish sought diocesan permission to expand the cemetery. This was denied by the Cemeteries Board because, with the opening of the Harvard-Denison Bridge, Calvary Cemetery was now accessible. Permission was again denied in 1922 when Neal Norton died and his family wanted to build a family mausoleum.

In 1927, the city of Cleveland made plans to widen Puritas Avenue, which would require 10 feet of the cemetery. The city would move the graves to land adjacent to St. Mary of the Assumption Cemetery. Mutual agreement was reached with the parish and the diocese by 1931, and the affected families were contacted for their permission. One woman adamantly refused, and the cemetery stayed as it was.

Despite these past failures, Fr. Thorpe made another attempt in 1949, when he made plans to move St. Patrick's cemetery to a section in the new Holy Cross Cemetery. Although the area would be larger and lots could again be purchased, the consensus was that the cemetery should remain on parish grounds.