The creation of Riverside Cemetery involved landscaping in a literal sense. Many of the small hills - topped by grand and imposing monuments to some of the greatest industrialist families - were created specifically for that purpose. The small stream running through the center is naturally occurring, but its two ponds are not. According to Joseph Anderson's The Town and City of Waterbury, Riverside cemetery's was originally surrounded by a wooden fence, but in 1888, a 6-foot iron fence was installed at a cost of $3270. The hills where the Chase's, the Brown's, and other families' monuments stand once commanded a view of the entire city. Today, however, the view is blocked by an elevated expressway. Despite the unfortunate placement of the highway, the interior of the park is still a grand place to spend an afternoon.

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Riverside Cemetery was established in 1853 - the same year that Waterbury officially became a city. It was designed to be a "Rural Cemetery," part of an aesthetic movement to create burial parks. Cemeteries like Riverside were intended to act almost as public parks - a place where people could escape the bustle of the city and take a pleasant stroll among the trees and streams. 

Riverside Cemetery

Classroom

Explore the Brass City's cemeteries, and learn about the people who made this industrial city.

From Raechel Guest's "Library Park History." For a more complete history of Library Park (including many wonderful historic photographs), read her article at http://waterburythoughts.blogspot.com/2018/03/library-park.html "When the village of Mattatuck (now Waterbury) was developed in the 1670s, Grand Street formed the southern-most boundary of the small community's residential area, with pastures for livestock in the meadows beyond. A fence ran along the boundary...The village burying ground was located on the outside of the Grand Street fence, where the library building is today. Over the course of two centuries, the burying ground was subdivided into four sections: one for the Congregational church, one for the Episcopal church, one for people of color, and one for Catholics." "The Grand Street burying ground became run down by the 1880s. Although there were still families actively caring for areas of the cemetery, much of it became overgrown with weeds. Despite being surrounded by stately homes, the cemetery was 'daily marred by acts unfit to mention' and the tombstones were being vandalized and even stolen...The City of Waterbury took ownership of the burying ground in 1891 with the intention of converting it into a park." "Of the more than 750 graves in the cemetery, the City paid for 63 to be relocated. An unknown number of others were exhumed at private expense...Most of the graves were left in place, the tombstones buried lying flat a few feet under the surface in random locations. Those with no tombstones were also left in place..." In the early 1900s, Library park was extended. A small neighborhood was razed to make way. By the 1930s, the park had been renovated to include the gazebo and brick retaining wall seen in the postcard on this page. The current library building replaced the original brick library in the 1960s.

Silas Bronson Library and Library park sit atop Waterbury's original burial grounds. Some graves were moved to other cemeteries when the first library was built here in 1893-4. However, many graves and their headstones were simply buried deeper. The park was expanded to its current size c.1920. Approximately 3 dozen gravestones that had been stored in the library's basement are installed along a brick retaining wall facing Meadow St.
The current library building was built in the 1960s on the same footprint as the original.

Silas Bronson Library and Library Park

In 1856, the city of Waterbury was a separate, incorporated district ensconced within the larger town of Waterbury. Both Riverside Cemetery and the Town Cemetery were technically outside the city's borders. The Town Cemetery was likely only for the burial of poor residents from the unincorporated farmland around the city. The city's poor would have buried somewhere else, possibly at Pine Grove Cemetery on the city's east side. All that remains of the Old Town Cemetery is a double headstone of a husband and wife. The wife's date of death is given, but the husband was apparently buried elsewhere after having remarried.

This was where "the town's poor" who could not afford to pay for a lot in any of the other cemeteries would be lain to rest. It was established in 1856 - three years after its stately neighbor, Riverside Cemetery. Records of its use are scarce, but it was in disuse and mostly forgotten by the mid-1960s. Around that time, most of the land that comprised the cemetery was re-purposed for off-ramps ferrying traffic from Interstate 84 onto Sunnyside Street and CT Route 8 South.

The Old "Town Cemetery"

St. Joseph's Cemetery - Waterbury's first Catholic Cemetery - was consecrated in 1858, one year after the establishment of Waterbury's first Catholic parish. For the 25-30 years prior to this, Waterbury Catholics were associated with St. Mary's Church in New Haven, and their dead were buried in its associated cemetery, some 25 miles away. By the end of the 19th century Waterbury had six Catholic parishes, and half the city's population was Catholic. Despite its name, St. Joseph's is still active; it is has been called "old" since the opening of New St. Joseph's Cemetery .5 mile south on Hamilton Avenue.

St. Joseph's Cemetery - Waterbury's first Catholic Cemetery - was consecrated in 1858, one year after the establishment of Waterbury's first Catholic parish. For the 25-30 years prior to this, Waterbury Catholics were associated with St. Mary's Church in New Haven, and their dead were buried in its associated cemetery, some 25 miles away. Despite its name, St. Joseph's is still active; it is has been called "old" since the opening of New St. Joseph's Cemetery .5 mile south on Hamilton Avenue.

Old St. Joseph's Cemetery

Calvary Cemetery is associated with the parish of the Immaculate Conception. According to Joseph Anderson's The Town and City of Waterbury, "The first interment in Calvary cemetery was that of Thomas Harry, infant son of P. J. Bolan, June 22, 1892" (v. III, 782). Immaculate began as an Irish Catholic parish. It's most famous congregant is Father Michael McGivney, who was born in Waterbury in 1852. He was ordained a priest in Baltimore in 1877. Five years later, he founded the Knights of Columbus. He died in 1890 in nearby Thomaston, unfortunately, two years too early to be interred at Calvary. In October 2020, McGivney was beatified by Pope Francis. Waterbury's native son may someday be its native Saint.

Situated atop one of Waterbury's highest elevations, Calvary Cemetery - named after the site of the Crucifixion - is the city's second Catholic cemetery. It opened in 1892 to accommodate a rapidly growing Catholic population. Consisting of less than 10 families in 1832, Catholics numbered about 6000 in 1892 - more than half of the city's total population. From the cemetery's highest point, the visitor can get a panoramic view of Waterbury's surrounding hills.

Calvary Cemetery

Waterbury's first Jewish Cemetery opened in 1875. At the time, it was situated on what was known as the Cheshire Turnpike Road. That road - now called Plank Rd - is now in two parts interrupted by Interstate 84. By the end of the 19th century, Waterbury was also home to a community of "Russian" Jews who established their own burial grounds about 1.5 miles north on Stillson Rd. Across from this "Russian" cemetery is St. Mary's Orthodox cemetery, while Melchizedek abuts the Lithuanian Cemetery.

Waterbury's Historic Cemeteries

Riverside Cemetery

Introduction

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Backstory and Context

Sources

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