Eden Cemetery (Collingdale, Pennsylvania)


Eden Cemetery is a historic African-American cemetery located in Collingdale, Pennsylvania. It was established June 20, 1902 making it the oldest existing black owned cemetery in the United States. The cemetery covers about 53 acres and there are approximately 93,000 people buried at Eden Cemetery.

History

Jerome Bacon, an instructor at the Institute for Colored Youth, led efforts to create a cemetery for African-Americans who had been buried in cemeteries in Philadelphia that were being condemned by the city in the early 20th century. The cemeteries included Lebanon Cemetery, the Olive Graveyard, the Stephen Smith Home for the Aged and Infirm Colored Person's Burial Ground and the First African Baptist Church Burial Grounds. The bodies buried in these cemeteries were disinterred and re-interred at Eden Cemetery.
After litigation from Collingdale, Pennsylvania opposing the creation of an African-American cemetery in the township, a charter for the creation of Eden Cemetery was granted by Pennsylvania on June 20, 1902. Fifty-three acres of land previously part of Bartram Farms were selected for the creation of the cemetery.
The first meeting of the cemetery charter committee was held on August 9, 1902 and included prominent members of Philadelphia's black community in the following roles:
The first interment at the cemetery was delayed until nightfall due to local white protestors who blocked the cemetery entrance during the day. The headline of the Chester County Times the next day read "Collingdale Has More Race Troubles, Town Council Has No Use for a Colored Cemetery, No African Need Apply."
On May 30, 1919 a memorial was erected to commemorate the colored soldiers from Pennsylvania who fought and died in France during World War I from 1917 to 1918.
In July 2008, vandals toppled over 200 headstones in the cemetery, including that of Octavius Valentine Catto, one of the most famous burials at Eden Cemetery.
In 2010, Eden Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is still in operation and maintained by a group of volunteers.

Notable interments