A coffin, a corpse and a baseball field: The strange history of Indianapolis' Greenlawn Cemetery

It’s not uncommon during excavation for new construction in Indianapolis that one might unearth artifacts, such as bottles, blackboards, even safes. The discovery of a coffin in 1986 might have been a shock to some, but for those who were acquainted with the history of the area, it was to be anticipated.

While digging to install a fiber-optics communications network, workers uncovered a cast-iron coffin. The mechanical scoop accidentally peeled back the top of the coffin like a sardine can, revealing “a really quite well preserved” body of an adult man inside, noted Charles W. Green, then-chief investigator for the Marion County coroner’s office.

News reports said the corpse was dressed in a blue, brass-buttoned military-type uniform and cap, and Green estimated the body dated back “probably somewhere around the Civil War.”

The construction site, in the area of Kentucky Avenue and Henry Street on the near west side, was the former location of Greenlawn Cemetery, which was sometimes referenced as Green Lawn Cemetery. It was the city’s first public cemetery, built in the 1820s.

The 7-acre cemetery stretched between the White River and Kentucky Avenue and north to about South Street and contained the remains of pioneers as well as Union and Confederate soldiers.

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Unfortunately, the well-preserved corpse disintegrated within hours after it was unearthed. Charles Green also noted that what appeared to be a blue military uniform worn was actually blue-colored iron, which had fallen on the body when the top of the iron casket was sheared by the bulldozer.

The body was in fact shrouded in white muslin, a common practice for burying people who had died of infectious diseases. The corpse was reburied at Crown Hill.

The 1986 discovery wasn’t the first time human remains or artifacts had been unearthed — although a complete corpse was quite a discovery. Artifacts had been unearthed during various stages of Greenlawn's closure. When the Diamond Chain production facility was built in 1917, bone fragments, an intact human leg bone and headstones were unearthed.

Why move a cemetery?

Overcrowding and flooding from the nearby White River forced the relocation of 1,100 pioneer graves to Crown Hill Cemetery before the turn of the 20th century. Aside from the grisly task of moving the bodies, families found that graves had been disturbed, valuables taken and, in many instances, corpses stolen. It was an era when grave robbing and body snatching was a profitable and gruesome business venture.

When Gov. James Whitcomb was exhumed from Greenlawn in 1892, the metal casket was opened for inspection by the family. Whitcomb, who died 40 years earlier, was in remarkable condition. So much so that the family invited friends to view the remains before being interred at Crown Hill.

About 1,200 Union soldiers who died in local camps and hospitals were moved to the national cemetery section of Crown Hill. This was done in phases, as the city sold off parcels of Greenlawn to various interests; one parcel was kept as a city park, while another was used as the city dog pound.

With each construction project, artifacts and bones were unearthed, delaying progress.

A small section of Greenlawn was bought in 1907 by the Vandalia Railroad. The bodies were removed and the ground was added to the site of the company’s shop and roundhouse.

In what could be considered an extreme reversal of land usage, several acres of the former cemetery were converted into a 25,000-seat baseball stadium. And naturally, during the course of construction, crumbled tombstones and bones were unearthed.

In 1914, the newly formed Federal League baseball team, the Indianapolis Hoosiers, moved into their new home, called Federal League Park. The Hoosiers won the Federal League pennant in 1913 and 1914. This "outlaw" league competed against the National and American league teams until it folded in 1915. The ballpark closed in 1916 to make room for freight yards.

In 1931, the federal government began the process of moving the bodies of more than 1,600 Confederate prisoners who died at Camp Morton, the prisoner-of-war camp. Originally buried at Greenlawn, they were moved to the Confederate Plot of Crown Hill.

Once referred to as “unknowns,” the Confederate remains were put in 25 wooden boxes and buried in a mass grave at Crown Hill. Steve Staletovich spearheaded an effort in 1991 to persuade the Department of Veterans Affairs to approve and fund a new monument consisting of 10 large memorial stones with all 1,616 names listed.

Follow IndyStar Visuals Manager and RetroIndy writer Dawn Mitchell on Twitter: @dawn_mitchell61.