The condition of Fairview Cemetery has been in decline for decades. It first caught my attention in 1997, when I began hunting for the grave of a young woman who died in 1918.
By 1900, Fairview was Lehigh Valley's most prestigious cemetery. It would become the final resting place of Allentown's most prominent citizens, including Harry Trexler, John Leh, Jack Mack and numerous others. Despite my status as a dissident chronicler of local government and a critic of the local press, my postings caught the attention of a previous editor at the Morning Call, whose own grandmother is buried at Fairview. While the paper did a story on my efforts in 2008, and I did manage to coordinate a meeting between management and some concerned citizens, any benefit to the cemetery's condition was short lived.
Internet search engines have long arms. In the following years I would receive messages from various people upset about conditions at the cemetery. A few years ago, Tyler Fatzinger became interested in the cemetery, and took it upon himself to start cleaning up certain areas. I suggested to Taylor that he start a facebook page, so that concerned citizens and distressed relatives might connect. Once again the situation caught the paper's attention, and another story appeared in 2019. Tyler Fatzinger was recently informed by the cemetery operator that he was trespassing, and must cease from his efforts to improve the cemetery.
Why would both the cemetery and city establishments reject help, and discourage shining a light on this situation? Orphan cemeteries are a problem across the country. An orphan cemetery is an old cemetery no longer affiliated with an active congregation or a funded organization. These cemeteries are often large, with no concerned descendants or remaining funds. While perpetual care may have been paid by family decades earlier, those funds in current dollars are woefully short.
In Fairview's case, the current management operates a crematorium and also conducts new burials on the grounds. Funds from the previous management were supposedly not passed forward. While the Trexler Trust maintains Harry Trexler's grave, and a few other plots are privately maintained, there understandably is no desire to take responsibility for the entire sixty acre cemetery. The current operator provides minimal care to the cemetery, with even less for those sections toward the back. While the cemetery grass may only be cut twice a season, that's still more care than a true "orphan cemetery" would receive. Some of the new burials appear to be on old plots, owned by other families, but unused for many, many decades, and on former areas designated as pathways between those plots. There seems to be no regulatory oversight. Recently, both state senator Pat Browne and the Orloski Law firm have acted in behalf of the cemetery operator.
While family members may be exasperated by the neglect, local government does not seem eager to adopt either the problem or the expense of Fairview Cemetery.
reprinted from June of 2021
The condition of the cemetery is deplorable. My grandparents are buried at the bottom area of the cemetery and the roads are just so bad that I’m unable to decorate their graves over the holidays anymore. Just so sad that steps aren’t taken to improve it
ReplyDeleteLook what happened to Monument Cemetery in Philly…the gravestones are at the foot of the Betsy Ross Bridge…it’s now a parking lot. http://thecemeterytraveler.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-monument-cemetery-was-destroyed.html?m=1
ReplyDeleteA trust fund established in 1903 and having received additional funding in 1972 by the Leh, Yeakel and Keck families for the maintenance and care of their burial sites is available for the cemetery manager for mowing, cleaning of the monuments and repairs to grave stones that are sinking into the ground due to damage from animals and weather. The cemetery manager simply needs to submit a bill to the cemetery trust for reimbursement. There is more than $40000 available. Not once since 2010 has the trust dispersed funds to the manager. How disgusting is that!
ReplyDeleteI was dismayed and concerned when I lived near this cemetery. War heros dating back centuries buried here. My major concern was the older plots down by the hill, along the fence line. Some of these older Graves house wooden caskets, if not just cloth wrapping. My concern is grave run off from rain and mud slides.
ReplyDeleteYou would think that someone reaping enormous tax benefits from downtown would have some civic pride and do something to solve the problem at Fairview.
ReplyDeletePerhaps fix the problems there and develop a template that could be used by other orphan cemeteries?
Tyler had checked on a few family members' grave sites. He offered to clean the headstones, only asking that I pay for the supplies. He asked that I provide him with a signed consent document. I provided the document. Once he was finished, he sent me pictures to show his completed work.
ReplyDeleteI live in Austin Texas so I cannot maintain the grave sites. When I visited Allentown between 1976 and 2012 I always tried to visit family grave sites throughout the area, including Maxatawny. Fairview was the only cemetery in such disrepair. It's a disgrace!
The City of Allentown has zero shame! City leadership has no sense of pride regarding the final resting place of those who made the City of Allentown what it once was, an “All-American City.”
*Thank You Tyler!