Phoenixville Mennonite Cemetery
Photo added by Anderson of the GV

Phoenixville Mennonite Cemetery

Also known as Central Evangelical Lutheran Church of Phoenixville Churchyard

Phoenixville, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA

Add cemetery photos

About

  • Get directions Church and Main Sts.
    Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, USA
    Coordinates: 40.13270, -75.51610
  • This cemetery is marked as being historical or removed.
  • No longer accepting burials
  • Cemetery ID:

Members have Contributed

Advertisement

Photos

The oldest religious site in Phoenixville, the Mennonite Meetinghouse was built in 1794 on a piece of land given to the congregation by Jacob Buckwalter. As the Mennonite population in the area diminished over the course of the 19th century, they began allowing a local Lutheran congregation to worship in their space on alternating weekends. Seeking to raise funds by selling off a portion of the old graveyard, the meeting's trustees unsuccessfully offered some lots for building purposes at public auction in 1871. Shortly thereafter, the Lutheran congregation purchased the old meetinghouse from them outright and erected a new church on the site in the English gothic style in 1873. The congregation was officially organized as the Central Evangelical Lutheran Church late in 1875.


Church records indicate that the bodies unearthed during construction efforts of the new church building were either transferred to Morris Cemetery or reinterred in the churchyard; additional bodies were found and removed during street widening in 1878.


In 1923, the Fischer Memorial Parsonage was built, and the grave markers impacted by its construction were removed and laid face-down behind the church; later, after 1925, the graveyard was landscaped and the remaining markers were removed. Ground-penetrating radar studies, however, suggest that the bodies were not removed with them and still remain in place on the grounds.


After the Central Evangelical Lutheran Church closed, the Historical Society of the Phoenixville Area acquired the building in 1980 and remains there to this day.

The oldest religious site in Phoenixville, the Mennonite Meetinghouse was built in 1794 on a piece of land given to the congregation by Jacob Buckwalter. As the Mennonite population in the area diminished over the course of the 19th century, they began allowing a local Lutheran congregation to worship in their space on alternating weekends. Seeking to raise funds by selling off a portion of the old graveyard, the meeting's trustees unsuccessfully offered some lots for building purposes at public auction in 1871. Shortly thereafter, the Lutheran congregation purchased the old meetinghouse from them outright and erected a new church on the site in the English gothic style in 1873. The congregation was officially organized as the Central Evangelical Lutheran Church late in 1875.


Church records indicate that the bodies unearthed during construction efforts of the new church building were either transferred to Morris Cemetery or reinterred in the churchyard; additional bodies were found and removed during street widening in 1878.


In 1923, the Fischer Memorial Parsonage was built, and the grave markers impacted by its construction were removed and laid face-down behind the church; later, after 1925, the graveyard was landscaped and the remaining markers were removed. Ground-penetrating radar studies, however, suggest that the bodies were not removed with them and still remain in place on the grounds.


After the Central Evangelical Lutheran Church closed, the Historical Society of the Phoenixville Area acquired the building in 1980 and remains there to this day.

Nearby cemeteries

Starr Burying Ground

Phoenixville, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA

  • 0
  • 0%
  • 0%
0 mi
Baptist Church of Phoenixville Burial Ground

Phoenixville, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA

  • 0
  • 0%
  • 0%
0.1 mi
Phoenixville Methodist Episcopal Church Graveyard

Phoenixville, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA

  • 0
  • 0%
  • 0%
0.1 mi
First Presbyterian Church of Phoenixville Churchyard

Phoenixville, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA

  • 0
  • 0%
  • 0%
0.1 mi
  • Added: 25 Sep 2014
  • Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2554957