Mechanics Cemetery

"As the area became overpopulated and congested it was no longer suited to the needs of a peaceful eternal resting place, and in November 1950 the Cemetery Association voted to sell the property to the Philadelphia Housing Authority."

"The bodies were removed and reinterred at Philadelphia Memorial Park in Frazer, Chester County, which was founded in 1929 as a non-sectarian burial ground. Along with the remains of people from United American Mechanics Cemetery, three other Philadelphia area cemeteries have also moved to Philadelphia Memorial Park; German Lutheran Cemetery, Union Burial Ground and Belevue Cemetery.

Philadelphia Memorial Park became steward of the burial records when the graves were transferred, and the collections include account books, burial listings, correspondence, deeds, lot records, minutes, and receipts. The collection also includes information for Philadelphia Memorial Park. Belvue Cemetery and United American Mechanics Cemetery are the best represented burial grounds of the associated records now housed at the Chester County Historical Society."

The above information I discovered online and copied and posted it here. What is interesting to me is there was a vote to move the cemetery and that the article does not state that the cemetery fell in disarray along with Odd Fellows that was located nearby and that both cemeteries were sold to the Philadelphia Housing Authority. When Mechanics was opened between 1848 and 1849, the location at 22nd and Diamond Street was considered a rural area. After the Civil War, industry and housing took over and when the city wanted to build Housing Projects, it was cheap and easy to take over old cemeteries. Headstones were disposed of and bodies removed to mass graves in other cemeteries and then it was discovered that all bodies were not removed but built upon. If a lot holder had the money to move their loved ones, then they could do so. Most people did not have the money to move, therefore, their loved ones were removed by the city and placed elsewhere in mass graves. It was a sad time in history and when one researches it now, one discovers all the corruption that went with the removal of old cemeteries that were "in the way" in the late 1940's and 1950's.