The Forgotten of the Rochester State Hospital

In 1824, New York State required by law that each county open an almshouse to serve the community, offering relief to paupers who could not care for themselves and to incarcerate disorderly people for six months of hard labor. Official in Monroe County did not want to house those “type” of people in the Rochester city limits, so they built their almshouse about two miles outside of it. It was more like a farm than an institution, there was open land and the residents grew their own food in order to sustain themselves. At the middle of the century, more buildings were added to the “farm,” the new county penitentiary in 1850 and the Rochester State Hospital, the new insane asylum, in 1857.

Although the city dedicated Mount Hope Cemetery in 1838 as the official Rochester cemetery, for fifty years the “farm” interred their dead on site. it was general practice that almshouses and asylums to have their own burial grounds. According to a rudimentary map, the cemetery was located in a fenced in area behind the penitentiary. Even though the existence of the cemetery was known about by the county directions when it was in use, it was never documented on an official map. The county had the responsibility to care for the poor and insane, however they only provided for the bare minimum, basic needs that were necessary for them to simply exist. The “inmates,” as both the almshouse residents and patients of the asylum were called, at the county facilities were never afforded the respect and compassion that every human being deserved. This was true in death as it was in life. The burials were performed with the traditional solemn rites and their final resting places were anonymous. As with the cemetery adjacent to the Genesee County Poorhouse in East Bethany, the exact number of those laid to rest at the Rochester State Hospital Cemetery is and never will be fully known. To say that the records in regards to the cemetery are incomplete would be an understatement, they were virtually nonexistent.

The cemetery was used from 1826 until the end of 1872, holding the remains of the deceased from the almshouse, asylum and penitentiary. At an annual meeting of the Monroe County Board of Supervisors in January 1873, the chaplain for the poorhouse gave a compelling illustration of the burials that took place there. “It was not uncommon, in such cases, to make more than one attempt in opening a grave, from the pick and shovels encountering, perhaps transversely, the mouldering coffin of some convict or pauper, while in spring and autumn, in a rainy time, the wetness of the ground and water in the grave, added to the pain of dishonoring the ashes of a brother man.” Long story short, while preparing a grave they would often, due to the graves in the cemetery being unmarked, bust into a rotting coffin of the long since deceased. After great consideration in regards to the chaplain’s report, the board ordered that the use of the cemetery be suspended. They declared that all future interments be made at Mount Hope Cemetery, unfortunately again in unmarked graves.

Decades went by and those who knew about the cemetery slowly passed away one after another. it was very easy to forget the hundreds of graves laid under the ground, especially when no one cared about them when they were alive. The buildings on the “farm” were eventually demolished, and it became an open field. The county owned the property and around the 1970s it became part of Highland Park.

For nearly a century and a half, the bodies had rested peacefully under foot. Occasionally, as if asking to be remembered, bones and pieces of splintered caskets were given up by the Earth. They were simply gathered up and unceremoniously reburied under the lilac trees, without so much as a few words of prayer and comfort spoken. it was not until 1984 that people really began to take notice. a county grounds crew was working on a landscape project when one of the bulldozers unearthed six skeletons. Construction immediately ground to a halt and the coroner was called in. Heavy rains fell and more remains came to surface. A full scale archaeological excavation was launched under the supervision of the Rochester Museum and Science Center. On the first day, the skeletons of ten adults and two children were recovered. “The burial ground of more that a thousand people was accidentally unearthed n what may be the largest ‘forgotten’ cemetery in the city. (Rochester History, October 1988)” After examining the remains, it was determined that they belonged to the former inmates of the “farm.” 305 skeletons in all were recovered, but it is believed thay 500 to 700 bodies were still buried on the plot of land at the corner of South and Highland Avenues.

The remains of the 305 taken from the almshouse cemetery were re-interred at Mount Hope Cemetery. A monument was erected there. As for those who remain at the park, they finally received the respect that they have always deserved. A Remembrance Garden was dedicated in their honor fourteen years later. A large rock sits in the garden with a plaque that reads “This plaque is dedicated to the men, women and children whose unmarked graves were discovered her in 1984. They are believed to have been 19th century residents of the Monroe County Almshouse, Insane Asylum and Penitentiary that occupied this site.”

As you visit Highland Park, remember those who lie beneath your feet and say a little prayer of peace for them.