Cold Springs Cemetery

During the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the Village of Lockport, New York, approximately two miles west of the future Cold Springs Cemetery, developed in conjunction with the Erie Canal. Speculators bought up land in the area along what was expected to be the canal route, and the first settlers including laborers, surveyors, and engineers involved in canal construction took up residence in the area. Main Street was laid out in 1819, connecting Lewiston Road at Cold Springs with the Upper Mountain Road in nearby Cambria; the remainder of the main streets were left unfinished until 1820-1821. In 1822, Lockport became the county seat of Niagara County, and in 1825, the year the Eris Canal was opened, a jail and courthouse were erected. The village was incorporated in 1829.  

During the 1850s, new economic and development trends emerged that transformed the Village of Lockport into a full-fledged city in the following decades, spurred on by the enlargement of the Erie Canal and the flight-of-five locks. By 1865, Lockport had grown to a population of thirteen-thousand-five-hundred-twenty-three people. Although the main line of the New York Central by passed the city, innovative technological developments by Birdsill Holly and others made great use of the city’s waterpower, developed new markets, and brought a new level of wealth and prestige to Lockport. Despite many canal towns faltering after the arrival of railroads, Lockport’s population and economy continued to grow steadily through the second half of the nineteenth century. 

By 1839, the Old Burying Ground behind the tavern had become overgrown as a result of neglect. On August 28, 1839, the local newspaper, the Niagara Courier, told its readers that a committee had been formed to work towards making improvements to the Graveyard at Cold Springs. The plan for the cemetery was initiated the previous year under the leadership of five local citizens. On May 7, 1840, an act of incorporation was passed by the New York State Legislature constituting Asa W. Douglas, Asahel Scovell, Horace Birdsall, James D. Shuler, Freeman Kilburn and others, an association under the name “Cold Springs Cemetery Association”, with the power to take, hold, and convey real and personal estate for the use of said corporation to the amount of $10,000.  

At the time of incorporation, the original cemetery was approximately ten and a half acres, purchased from Stephen Wakeman for $649.00. The enclosing of the cemetery was one of the first things undertaken by the Board of Trustees. James D. Shuler, Trustee and owner of a nearby stone quarry, laid up the stone wall which currently runs along Cold Spring Road. In 1884, the Village of Lockport purchased three acres of land for a potter’s field, which today lies on the north side of the railroad tracks.  

The history of the Cold Springs Cemetery is documented from several newspaper articles and other secondary sources, because very little cemetery information survives in their archives. As early as June 10, 1847 the Niagara Democrat newspaper wrote a lengthy and colorfully written article entitled “An Hour at Cold Springs Cemetery”. The article encouraged citizens to walk or ride to Cold Springs Cemetery, the “quiet, chosen resting place of the dead where all nature is smiling, flowers are blooming and the birds invited by the quiet, shady retreat are singing their mating and vesper songs over the remains of those we loved”. 

History, Cold Springs Cemetery. Accessed January 15th 2021. https://coldspringscem.weebly.com/history.html.

Cold Springs Cemetery, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed January 15th 2021. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320090.