Dunks Ferry Road Potter's Field
Also known as Philadelphia City Cemetery
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA
About
-
Get directions Dunks Ferry and Mechanicsville Roads
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19154 USACoordinates: 40.10259, -74.96557 - Cemetery ID:
Members have Contributed
Advertisement
Photos
No additional photos.
Add PhotosFollowing the closure of the old city cemetery at 2nd and Lehigh in 1955, the City of Philadelphia established a new City Cemetery on a portion of the Holmesburg Prison Farm in the far northeast in January, 1956. In August 1957 the city medical examiner's office buried the most famous person to interred in the cemetery, just a year after it opened — The Boy in the Box, later identified as Joseph Augustus Zarelli.
The potter's field was initially maintained by prisoners from Holmesburg; prisoners were still digging graves and helping transport bodies to the cemetery into the early 1980s. Graves were marked by 5" × 5" cement blocks with numbers inscribed on them; these were used here until 1985.
Increasing burial costs and a lack of funding led the city to stop burying the unclaimed at the city cemetery. Beginning in 1986, unclaimed bodies were cremated by the medical examiner's office.
The cemetery is not maintained and is largely overgrown today.
Following the closure of the old city cemetery at 2nd and Lehigh in 1955, the City of Philadelphia established a new City Cemetery on a portion of the Holmesburg Prison Farm in the far northeast in January, 1956. In August 1957 the city medical examiner's office buried the most famous person to interred in the cemetery, just a year after it opened — The Boy in the Box, later identified as Joseph Augustus Zarelli.
The potter's field was initially maintained by prisoners from Holmesburg; prisoners were still digging graves and helping transport bodies to the cemetery into the early 1980s. Graves were marked by 5" × 5" cement blocks with numbers inscribed on them; these were used here until 1985.
Increasing burial costs and a lack of funding led the city to stop burying the unclaimed at the city cemetery. Beginning in 1986, unclaimed bodies were cremated by the medical examiner's office.
The cemetery is not maintained and is largely overgrown today.
Nearby cemeteries
Bensalem, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA
- Total memorials8
- Percent photographed25%
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA
- Total memorials892
- Percent photographed12%
- Percent with GPS1%
Bensalem, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA
- Total memorials30
- Percent photographed77%
- Percent with GPS57%
Trevose, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA
- Total memorials20k+
- Percent photographed54%
- Percent with GPS9%
- Added: 24 Jun 2010
- Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2359354
Success
Uploading...
Waiting...
Failed
This photo was not uploaded because this cemetery already has 20 photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 5 photos to this cemetery
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 5 photos to this cemetery
Invalid File Type
Birth and death years unknown.
1 photo picked...
2 photos picked...
Uploading 1 Photo
Uploading 2 Photos
1 Photo Uploaded
2 Photos Uploaded
Size exceeded
Too many photos have been uploaded
"Unsupported file type"
• ##count## of 0 memorials with GPS displayed. Double click on map to view more.No cemeteries found