page_title: Presbyterian Burying Ground
section_title: 1909 demolition
hierarchical_section_title: Presbyterian Burying Ground / 1909 demolition
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Lot 1273 in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States in 1903, showing the location of the Presbyterian Burying Ground and its chapel (named on the namp as "Presbyterian Church").
context_page_description: The Presbyterian Burying Ground, also known as the Old Presbyterian Burying Ground, was a historic cemetery which existed between 1802 and 1909 in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was one of the most prominent cemeteries in the city until the 1860s. Burials there tapered significantly after Oak Hill Cemetery was founded nearby in 1848. The Presbyterian Burying Ground closed to new burials in 1887, and about 500 to 700 bodies were disinterred after 1891 when an attempt was made to demolish the cemetery and use the land for housing. The remaining graves fell into extensive disrepair. After a decade of effort, the District of Columbia purchased the cemetery in 1909 and built Volta Park there, leaving nearly 2,000 bodies buried at the site. Occasional human remains and tombstones have been discovered at the park since its construction. A number of figures important in the early history of Georgetown and Washington, D.C., military figures, politicians, merchants, and others were buried at Presbyterian Burying Ground.
context_section_description: Beginning in 1899, a second attempt was made to demolish Presbyterian Burying Ground and turn the land into usable space. This process took a decade, but was eventually successful.
  The second demolition effort began in March 1899, when parishioners at Georgetown Presbyterian Church indicated they would be willing to turn title to the land over to someone else provided the church received funds in return. By May, the Georgetown Citizens Association (GCA) was working on a plan to achieve the graveyard's closure. Members of the GCA attempted to meet with the cemetery trustees to work out a deal, but the negotiations were quickly terminated. The Washington Evening Star reported that church members were suddenly "sentimental" about the cemetery and did not wish to part with it, although later it was learned that a local realtor had attempted to purchase the land instead and that this sudden interest made parishioners reluctant to sell.
  Unable to purchase the cemetery outright, the GCA began working on a plan to have Congress pass legislation condemning the land and turning it over to the District of Columbia for some public use. On May 7, 1899, a GCA subcommittee formed to handle cemetery issues issued a report requesting that Presbyterian Burying Ground be turned into a public playground, and that the City Commissioners be prevailed upon to push this legislation in Congress.
  But despite the GCA's efforts, no action was taken on this legislative initiative. Georgetown Presybeterian Church sold the chapel to the West Washington Methodist Episcopal Church South (an all-black congregation) in 1901. The cemetery's condition in 1901 was very poor. More than 100 vaults had been broken open, all the mausoleums had been looted of their brick and torn down, and headstones scattered widely. Only about 500 to 700 of the 2,700 people buried there had been removed, and half of all burials could not be located because the markers were gone. Some relatives secured a disinterment permit, only to discover that the grave of their loved ones could not be identified.  Those who remained belonged to both wealthy and poor families. A great number of remains had been unearthed, and bone fragments lay on the surface of the cemetery.
  Although The Washington Post reported in May 1901 that a settlement with the Beatty heirs was expected soon, no settlement was forthcoming. In April 1903, the GCA formed a committee to again investigate the possibility of obtaining a condemnation law from Congress. These efforts were spearheaded by the Reverend Zed H. Copp, a nationally known Presbyterian author and evangelist. Copp determined that Georgetown Presbyterian Church members were willing to part with the cemetery provided that the bodies were reinterred elsewhere, and that church members preferred to have the land condemned rather than sold. To win the support of the City Commissioners for the legislative effort, the GCA submitted a 2,000-signature petition asking the city to condemn the land and have it turned into a public park. To bolster their case, several citizens of Georgetown formally complained to the Metropolitan Police Department, asserting that the cemetery was not only unsightly but that it had become a garbage dump and that the numerous bodies there were creating health problems. A city investigation concluded that unburied bodies were not problem, but agreed that local residents were using the cemetery for trash disposal. The investigation also noted that most of the vaults were in a state of collapse; numerous memorials and headstones had been broken, vandalized, or fallen over; and that the cemetery was heavily overgrown. The city commissioners agreed to contact Georgetown Presbyterian Church to urge them to maintain the property, but little else could be done. Although the City Commissioners gave the GCA a hearing in April, the following months the commissioners expressed concern that if the cemetery were removed, title to the land would revert to the Beatty heirs. The heirs, however, were demanding a large sum of money for the land, and the
caption: Map of the Presbyterian Burying Ground in 1903.
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