Look Back: St. Mary’s opens new cemetery in 1881

Jan. 6—As St. Mary’s Church of the Immaculate Conception — the oldest Catholic Church in Wilkes-Barre — holds its final mass on Jan. 12, the cemetery in Hanover Township will continue to bear the same name.

The origins of St. Mary’s Cemetery in Hanover Township began due to inspections by the Sanitary Committee of Wilkes-Barre and reports from the conservative Union-Leader newspaper about the deteriorating condition of the graveyard outside the Catholic Church on South Washington Street in Wilkes-Barre. The graveyard was situated along South Canal Street, today’s South Wilkes-Barre Boulevard, behind the church.

The Rev. Dennis O’Haran, pastor of St. Mary’s Church, took exception to the Union-Leader stories but presented his plan to Wilkes-Barre to find another cemetery location.

The Sanitary Committee found that the caretaker of the burial plot outside the church, a man named Riley, did not perform his duties to properly tend to the burial ground.

“That the Mayor and Chief of Police sign a notice to be served on Father O’Haran to abate the nuisance in the Irish Catholic cemetery by using sulphuric acid on the graves that are not of the depth required by ordinance and also to cover said graves with dirt at least two feet above the rough box containing bodies,” the Union-Leader reported Aug. 9, 1881.

As the burial plot outside the church became filled, Father O’Haran needed to find a resolution for the growing church.

In July 1881, Father O’Haran purchased 60 acres in Hanover Township to relocate St. Mary’s Cemetery. St. Mary’s purchased additional acres to expand the cemetery in Hanover Township in the mid 1900s.

“The new Catholic cemetery is situated on a high point in the fields southeast of Lee Park. The location is a pleasant one and the ground is well calculated for the purpose for which it has been selected,” the Wilkes-Barre Record reported Sept. 5, 1881.

Saint Mary’s Cemetery in Hanover Township was christened by Bishop William O’Hara, the first bishop of the Diocese of Scranton, on Sept. 4, 1881. At the time of the dedication and christening, 25 people had been buried in the cemetery.

“The ground was sprinkled with Holy water and the Bishop offered a prayer, the priests responding. At its completion, the Bishop and priests wended their way about the ground, chanting as they went. Reaching the cross at the top of the larger hill, candles were lit and incense was then offered, followed by more sprinkling of Holy water as the services were brought to a close with a prayer by the Bishop,” the Record reported.

The formation of Wilkes-Barre’s first Catholic church can trace its beginnings to 1828 when Father John O’Flynn came to Wilkes-Barre and celebrated mass with the several Catholic residents of Wilkesbarre borough.

A wooden church was first erected in 1840 on South Washington Street and was replaced by a brick church in 1845, which is considered the birth year of St. Mary’s Church under the Rev. Father Henry Fitzsimmons. The present church was erected in 1872.

When Rev. O’Haran purchased the land for the new church’s cemetery in Hanover Township, the old Catholic Cemetery remained along South Canal Street and Mechanic’s Alley. Those buried in the old Catholic Cemetery were removed and re-interred in 1905 to make way for a parochial school building for children of Saint Mary’s Parish.

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