Greenlawn Cemetery (Indianapolis, Indiana)

Greenlawn Cemetery was the collective name of the first four public burying grounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, that operated from 1821 to 1931. It was located along the White River just north of what would later become Kentucky Avenue. The burying grounds acted as the initial burial place for some of the first Indianapolis settlers as well as Union and Confederate soldiers who died in Indianapolis. The cemetery was closed to new burials and many of the bodies were relocated after 1890 due to vandalism, grave robbing, overcrowding, encroaching industrialization, and the regular flooding of the White River. Human remains from the old cemetery that had not been relocated were rediscovered in the area during the construction of Eleven Park and the Henry Street bridge, havingbeen concealed by above ground industrialization for several decades.