INDIANAPOLIS — A lot of history has happened on the property of the former Greenlawn Cemetery, and now, the Indianapolis Department of Public Works is asking for help to tell the story.
"This is an ongoing problem here at Greenlawn, not knowing whose buried where. It didn't just start yesterday. It's been going like this," urban historian Leon Bates said.
In fact, it's been going on for at least 100 years.
Greenlawn, the city's first cemetery, is the final resting place for hundreds of people, and the property is rich with Indiana history. It's something Bates has been documenting for years.
"There was a baseball park here. There was a factory here. There was a slaughterhouse here. There was a railroad warehouse here," Bates said.
Now, DPW is documenting all of that history on their newly-launched website for the White River Innovation District infrastructure project.
"It tells more of a personalized history of the folks who were buried here in Greenlawn Cemetery. Many of them, we don't realize were instrumental in turning the city into what it became," Bates said.
This area includes the future Henry Street Bridge connection to Kentucky Avenue, as well as the Cultural Trail, which overlaps with a portion of the former cemetery.
DPW is asking people to help them build their website and submit their research, photos and documents about the cemetery's past to be included on the website.
"If you want to bring them in, they will scan them for free and use that information to build a larger database," Bates said.
DPW said the website will be a big part of healing a great wrong.
"You never know what your sharing might help someone else," Bates said.
Indy DPW will hold another meeting for the project Monday, June 24.