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Associated Catholic Cemeteries

HISTORICAL NOTES - CALVARY CEMETERY

1851 In late September of 1851, David Denny, John Low and Lee Terry landed at Alki (West Seattle) and decided it was a good place to settle.
1852 Arthur Denny & David Maynard filed the first plats of the city of Seattle. On Sunday, August 22, 1852, Bishop Demers, who was enroute to Vancouver Island, celebrated Seattle's first mass in Yesler's new cook house on the site of what is now Pioneer Square. Arthur Denny (who was not Catholic) prepared an altar for the service. Chief Seattle (after whom the city was named) was Catholic, and he assisted the Bishop during the mass. Chief Seattle spoke his native Salish language, while the mass would have been in Latin. Bishop Demer's native language was French, while most of the people in attendance were English speaking Protestants.
1859 About 150 settlers lived in Seattle at this time.

Calvary's oldest burial:

In August of 1859, Henry Boyd died and was buried in the Old Seattle Cemetery on the backside of Denny Hill. In 1884, this cemetery was closed due to the Denny Regrade, and the remains of the Catholic settlers who had been interred there were moved to Calvary.

1869 Fr. Prefontaine established Seattle's first Catholic church, Our Lady of Good Help. Seattle had roughly six hundred inhabitants, though Fr. Prefontaine found only ten people who professed to be Catholic.
1870 The first official census lists 1,107 people in Seattle.
1872 Calvary's present site of 40 acres along with the 40 acres to the west of Calvary were homesteaded by John J. Jordon. Mr. Jordon paid the United States government a $1.25-per-acre fee for the property.

1880 According to the census, Seattle's population has increased to 3,533.
1884 The 40 acres that comprise Calvary along with Holy Cross Cemetery on Capital Hill were purchased by Father Emmanuel Demanez, the chaplain of Providence Hospital and an assistant to Fr. Prefontaine, the pastor of Our Lady of Good Help Parish (Seattle's first Catholic Parish). Holy Cross Cemetery was located between 11th Avenue N. & 13th Avenue N. and between East Lynn and East Roanoke on Capital Hill. It was 2 & 3/4 acres in size. While purchased in 1884, it was formally platted on July 31, 1885. During the 20 years it was open, from 1885 to 1905, 100 or more burials were made. The cemetery was determined to be in a geologically unsuitable site. "It was seldom used mostly because it was more like a swamp than a burial ground." (A History of the Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest / 1743-1983, Wilfred P. Schoenberg, S.J., Pastoral Press, Washington, D.C., 1987, p. 512.)
1889 On June 6, 1889, a glue pot boiled over in a cabinet shop and spread rapidly through Seattle's business center, destroying 116 acres of property. James McIntyre (d. 1928) who was asst. Chief of the Seattle Volunteer Fire Dept. during the Great Fire is buried here at Calvary. (Chief Josiah Collins was out of town during the fire.) On December 1, 1889, Calvary Cemetery was blessed and formally dedicated as a Diocesan Cemetery "pro civitate Seattleensi et Suburbanis locis" by Fr. Louis Schram, the Vicar General for Bishop Junger of the Diocese of Nesqually in the Territory of Washington. That same year, Fr. Demanez (who established Calvary) founded Sacred Heart, Seattle's 2nd Catholic parish.

1890 Seattle's population grew from 3,533 in 1880 to 43,487, an increase of approximately 40,000 people in a ten year span.

1891 On May 27, 1891, at the invitation of Bishop Junger, the religious community known as the 'Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer' (Redemptorists) first came to Seattle to administer Sacred Heart Parish and Calvary Cemetery.

1893 Holy Cross Cemetery was ordered vacated, but that order was rescinded.

1897 On July 17, 1897, the steamer Portland arrived in Seattle with "a ton of gold." With the ensuing years, Seattle's population and economy rapidly grew as the port of Seattle supplied the gold fields of Alaska and the Yukon. Robert Marshal (d. 1927) was one of the passengers and is now interred in Calvary (CC-First-530-5).

1904 On November 10, 1904, Bishop Edward O'Dea registered Calvary's plats with the City of Seattle.
1905 In April 1905, the City of Seattle ordered Holy Cross Cemetery (also established in 1884 by Fr. Demanez) closed. The cemetery had been located on Capitol Hill where Seattle Prep now stands. Mount Carmel Cemetery located on the Chancery's current site was also closed. All verifiable burials were transferred to Calvary. The Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad was soon completed as far as Sand Point. The railroad passed Calvary's main entrance, which then was off the southwest corner of the cemetery's property. The current Burke-Gilman trail runs along the path where the railroad once ran. The railroad established the Keith Station (NE 50th Street at 40th Avenue NE) by the cemetery's entrance.

1915 George E. Hayes, legal adviser to Bishop O'Dea, was appointed the manager of Calvary, ending the Redemptorists' 24 years administration.

1921 On July 1, 1921, Calvary adopted new rules ending the use of wooden head boards to mark graves. Curbings, copings and steps and other coverings for lots or graves were also discontinued. The cemetery also began to offer endowed Cemetery Care plans (then referred to as Perpetual Care). Previously, individual families were expected to care for their own graves. If a family wanted the cemetery to provide this care, the cemetery assessed the family an Annual Care fee, which was typically higher than the cost of the ground itself.

1923 On July 14, 1923, Calvary adopted rules ending the use of marble, sand stone or stones other than granite. On September 2, 1923, Bernard "Barney" Harvey, started as member of Calvary's grounds crew. He worked for the cemetery for 52 years until 1975 when he retired from his position as the grounds Foreman. "Barney" Harvey immigrated from Ireland in 1919.

1934 Calvary began making concrete boxes reinforced with steel (referred to as "sectionals") as its outer burial containers. Prior to this, the graves were shored up with wood while they were open. Sectionals helped protect the grounds from the natural settling of graves that occurs over time.

1936 The Seattle City Council passed ordinance no. 66585, permitting Calvary to erect a fire proof building in which to keep valuable cemetery records.

1940 Pope Pius XII awarded George Hayes, the Cemetery's manager, the Benemerenti Medal for his years of service to the Church. The medal was publicly bestowed upon Mr. Hayes by Bishop Shaughnessy at St. James Cathedral on Sunday, May 12, 1940.

1940's George Hayes retires. John Baltrusch is appointed new Superintendent.

1941 Calvary replaced its wood frame maintenance sheds (built over 20 years previously) with Calvary's current masonry building behind the then existing cemetery office. The original shed in the 1800s was located on the northeast corner of the cemetery, where the current mausoleum stands.

1944 Bishop Shaughnessy converted the entire cemetery over to an endowed care program. While endowed care had been offered since 1921, many older lots purchased prior to that date had not been converted to this system. Calvary Cemetery received permission from the War Production Board to start construction on Calvary's current office building. The prior office, a simple wood structure, was a located at the current site.

1953 John Baltrusch retires. Rev. Joseph Doogan (Director of Cemeteries, from June, 1953 to September, 1976) assumed the administration of Calvary. Later, John Cannon is appointed new Superintendent.

1967 The Seattle Transit System released the easement it held for over 40 years on the northeast corner of the cemetery. The Transit System had claimed an easement on the property when the city was served by cable cars and a trolley ran up 55th Avenue NE. The easement allowed the city to provide the trolley car a turn around station.

1972 John Cannon is transferred to Holyrood as Holyrood's new Superintendent. Howard E. Schroedel is appointed the new Superintendent of Calvary.

1973 On April 16, 1973, Ed Siedlik, Calvary's current Grounds Foreman & Master Gardener began working for the Associated Catholic Cemeteries.

1974 On April 19, 1974, the cornerstone of Calvary's mausoleum was laid and the building blessed by Fr. Joseph Doogan, Director of Cemeteries.

1976 In March, Richard Peterson, the current Director of Cemeteries for the Archdiocese of Seattle, became a member of Calvary's seasonal grounds crew, helping in the mowing, trimming and general care of the property.

1978 On March 27, 1978, Sharon Vavak, currently one of Calvary's Family Service Directors, began her tenure with Associated Catholic Cemeteries by working in Holyrood's office.

1981 Howard E. Schroedel retires.

1986 On August 12, 1986, Martin Murphy, Calvary's current Superintendent, began working for the Associated Catholic Cemeteries in ACC's Accounting Office at the Chancery. Later that same year, Dennis Fairbank, formerly Superintendent of Gethsemane Cemetery in Federal Way, is appointed Superintendent of both Calvary & Holyrood.

1988 February, Ed Siedlik, Holyrood's Grounds Foreman, was transferred to Calvary as Calvary's new Grounds Foreman.

1989 August, Sharon Vavak, currently one of Calvary's Family Service Directors, was transferred to Calvary to work with families & maintain daily office functions.

1991 Dennis Fairbank accepts the position of General Manager of Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in the Diocese of Spokane. Richard Peterson, the Director of Cemeteries, assumed the administration of Calvary.

1992 On September 14, 1992, Martin Murphy, then acting Superintendent of Holyrood, is appointed Superintendent of Calvary.1994 On May 23, 1994, Dave Leder II, who had worked for several years as part of Holyrood's seasonal, began his full time career as part of Associated Catholic Cemeteries grounds crew. Dave's father, also Dave Leder, is the Grounds Foreman for Holyrood. His grandfather, Hawley Leder, worked at Calvary from the 1940s to the 1970s. Dave who is now part of Calvary's grounds staff is also a son-in-law of the current Grounds Foreman, Ed Siedlik.

1999 On April 5 Alex Cornwall was hired as a seasonal worker on the grounds crew of Holyrood Cemetery On August 16 he became a regular full-time member of Calvary's grounds crew.

2000 On April 27 Greg DeYoung began as a regular full-time grounds staff on Calvary's crew. On June 12 Carol Copley was hired as Office Assistant to provide clerical support. On July 15 Archbishop Alexander Brunett blessed the stained glass window, "Communion of Saints", depicting Mother Cabrini in the mausoleum corridor named in her honor. Mr. Joseph Hester was the artist commissioned for that piece.