Mutual Burial Ground of Kensington

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The Mutual Burial Ground of Kensington is described by Philly dot com as follows:

The remains of as many as 10,000 of the plain people of Kensington may still be beneath the ground along Frankford Avenue, according to (Kenneth) Milano's application (to the Philadelphia Historical Commission).

No records have been found that indicate any bodies were removed and reinterred; 1914 Board of Health records indicate 200 bodies "more or less" were being removed from the southern portion of the cemetery, according to an addendum to the application.

There are probably no rock stars of history buried there. Rather, the cemetery appears to have been used largely by German working-class families, the people who created Kensington.

Neighborhood residents, local preservationists, and historians say the ground holds important information about what makes Philadelphia uniquely Philadelphia. Descendants want the remains of their ancestors to stay at peace.

The non-church-affiliated Mutual Burial Ground is a prime example of the kind of associational organization that created Philadelphia, said Aaron Wunsch, an assistant professor in the University of Pennsylvania's historic preservation program. In Kensington, the mutual cemetery emerged in the 1820s as a direct result of the influx of laborers to the river wards. It is, he said, emblematic of "working-class life along the waterfronts and wards in 19th-century Philadelphia."

Info

• Document (PDF): Nomination of Historic Building, Structure, Site, or Object: The Mutual Burial Ground of Kensington.

In The News

• Kensington graveyard rises from the past as developer seeks to build, Philly dot com, May 31, 2016.
• Tension Between Development And Preservation In Fishtown Project, CBS-3, May 30, 2016.