James J. Walker Park at Hudson Street and St. Luke’s Place is named for the colorful, corrupt, showgirl-loving former mayor, who governed the city during the highs and lows of the Jazz Age and the start of the Great Depression.
But like most city parks, this landscaped stretch of playgrounds and ball fields had a more somber start—as a necropolis.
From 1799 to 1858, this acre of green served as an active burial ground called St. John’s Cemetery, part of Trinity Church.
An estimated 10,000 New Yorkers were interred there—mostly lower-class immigrants who lived in what had once been a posh residential enclave and slowly became a rougher-edged waterfront neighborhood by the middle of the 19th century.
When the city banned burials in this part of Manhattan, St. John’s slid into disrepair.
“The cemetery has for many years been in a dilapidated condition,” wrote The New York Times in an 1894 article about the new park to be built over the dead. Beer bottles and other trash littered the grounds.
“The monuments have toppled over, and many of the tombstones have fallen.”
“Many of the bodies will undoubtedly be removed, especially those contained in the underground vaults. Thousands of those buried in ordinary graves long ago mingled with the earth.”
Because relatives of those buried there were likely also deceased, “it is probably that thousands of the friendless dead will be allowed to rest in peace under the surface of this new park, as they do in the old Potter’s Fields, now known as Washington Square and Tompkins Square Parks, respectively.”
Today, beneath kids playing T-ball and soccer, the “friendless dead” remain, with the occasional marker turning up during construction.
The only visible remnant of the the burial ground is a fascinating artifact: an 1834 sarcophagus dedicated to three young firemen from Engine Company 13 who were killed fighting a blaze on Pearl Street.
Their tomb (today and in a 19th century photo at its original site, above) is marked by a granite coffin with stone helmets resting on top.
It’s near the bocce courts on the St. Luke’s Place side.
[Second photo, MCNY Collections Portal; third photo: NYPL Digital Gallery]
Tags: fireman crypt Hudson Street Park, Fireman Memorial 1834, Hudson Street park, J. J. Walker park fireman memorial, James J. Walker mayor NYC, old cemeteries NYC, Potters Fields New York City, St. John's Cemetery Hudson Street, Trinity Church cemetery Hudson Street
September 15, 2014 at 6:33 am |
Strewn with beer cans in 1894?
September 15, 2014 at 6:37 am |
Bottles, of course! It’s in a New York Times article. I’ll change it.
September 15, 2014 at 10:17 am |
There were 2 young men named below:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/james-j-walker-park/monuments/483
September 15, 2014 at 12:40 pm |
The NYT articles makes mention that a William E. Burton was buried there. actually it was a temporary stay and in July of 1860 he was later buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Burton was a well known actor, theater manager, author, publisher and Shakespearian scholar. He immigrated from London to Philadelphia abandoning d his wife and young child — William Shakespeare Burton. He became a painter. When his father died his mother suddenly showed up in NYC to contest the will after decades separation. Since he was a naturalized American and she was a British citizen and there had been no contact between then for decades she was not awarded money but she later got it on appeal.
September 16, 2014 at 5:34 am |
Yours is a very satisfying comment to read, chock full of interesting knowledge. Thank you!
September 15, 2014 at 5:46 pm |
Great post. I walk by this park regularly and have wondered about this tomb.
There is a high school and public library on the grounds, in addition to the park.
September 25, 2014 at 2:37 pm |
Poignant, how the helmets are slowly eroding away.
July 28, 2016 at 6:48 am |
[…] in the early 1850s opposite a sprawling cemetery owned by Trinity Church, the 15 rowhouses span the north side of this slightly curved lane—which is actually Leroy […]
June 12, 2017 at 5:23 am |
[…] New York is a city of monuments and memorials—to veterans, victims of tragedies, heroic citizens, and countless individual residents. […]
October 30, 2017 at 6:28 am |
[…] only marked grave in the entire park is an 1834 sarcophagus dedicated to three young firemen who perished in a blaze on Pearl […]