Downtown in Indianapolis in Marion County, Indiana — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
The Plague Cemetery
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), April 19, 2019
1. The Plague Cemetery Marker
Inscription.
The Plague Cemetery. . A "burying ground" established near this site in 1821 is believed to have been the first cemetery in what is now Indianapolis. It has been historically referred to as the "plague cemetery" because the first interments were people who died that year from a febrile epidemic (possibly malaria) that afflicted many residents of the area. The wife of John Maxwell, the brother of David Maxwell, M.D., one of the founding members and chairman of the trustees of Indiana University, was among those buried here. Dr. David Maxwell was the grandfather of Dr. Allison Maxwell, the first dean of the Indiana University School of Medicine., Following construction of the medical school building, now Emerson Hall, in 1918, there were plans to alter the cemetery site. In response to concerns expressed by state historians, the dean of the School of Medicine, Charles Emerson, asked Dr. Thurman B. Rice of the Pathology Department to monitor the location while the landscape was lowered several feet. There was no evidence of any graves being disturbed. The site was marked for many years by a plain boulder.
A "burying ground" established near this site in 1821 is believed to have been the first cemetery in what is now Indianapolis. It has been historically referred to as the "plague cemetery" because the first interments were people who died that year from a febrile epidemic (possibly malaria) that afflicted many residents of the area. The wife of John Maxwell, the brother of David Maxwell, M.D., one of the founding members and chairman of the trustees of Indiana University, was among those buried here. Dr. David Maxwell was the grandfather of Dr. Allison Maxwell, the first dean of the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Following construction of the medical school building, now Emerson Hall, in 1918, there were plans to alter the cemetery site. In response to concerns expressed by state historians, the dean of the School of Medicine, Charles Emerson, asked Dr. Thurman B. Rice of the Pathology Department to monitor the location while the landscape was lowered several feet. There was no evidence of any graves being disturbed. The site was marked for many years by a plain boulder.
Location. 39° 46.559′ N, 86° 10.713′ W. Marker is in Indianapolis, Indiana, in Marion County. It is in Downtown. It is on Barnhill Drive north of Medical Drive, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 635 Barnhill Drive, Indianapolis IN 46202, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Central Indiana. It is also in the American Midwest and in the Corn Belt. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture and also the Northwest Territory.
Credits. This page was last revised on February 4, 2023. It was originally submitted on April 25, 2019, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 1,273 times since then and 81 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on April 25, 2019, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
