Calvary Cemetery

Story

Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. The cemetery straddles the border between Cleveland and the city of Garfield Heights, with its offices within the city limits of Cleveland. Calvary Cemetery is the largest Catholic cemetery in Cleveland, and one of the largest in Ohio.About the cemeteryIn 1892, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland purchased approximately 105acre of land east of Broadway Avenue in what was then Newburgh Township. The cost of the land was $600. Formerly the Leand farm, it was named Calvary Cemetery. Toledo cemetery designer, horticulturist, and cemetery superintendent Frank Eurich designed Calvary as a lawn cemetery. The land was regraded and other initial improvements made by The William H. Evers Engineering Company. Calvary Cemetery was consecrated on November 26, 1893.Within just a few years, the cemetery featured a stone receiving vault, waiting room at the entrance, and a number of roads. A streetcar spur ran adjacent to the cemetery, allowing caskets and funeral parties to reach the cemetery by electric train.Initially, the cemetery was bounded on its east side by the Connotton Valley Railway, whose tracks were laid in 1882. An additional purchase of land east of the railroad tracks was made in 1900. Various figures have been cited for the size of this property: 50acre, 200acre, and 250acre. Fifty acres appears to be the best figure, and is supported by an industry trade journal which reported the cemetery's total size as a total 160acre in 1900. Additional land was acquired by 1908, giving the cemetery either 250acre or 300acre of total land. The cemetery acquired the 13acre Quigley farm and the 9acre Stegkemper tract in 1910. Calvary's reported size was 350acre in 1936. The streetcar line was torn up in 1947, and the 30by strip of land sold to the cemetery for $600. Calvary Cemetery reportedly still had more than 300acre of land in 2007.