Milwaukee County Grounds Cemetery 2

Apr 17

Site Brief:

Founded: 1882

Location: Wauwatosa, WI

Additional name(s): County Farm Cemetery

Affiliate group(s): N/A

History:

Milwaukee County Grounds Cemetery 2, historically referred to as the County Farm Cemetery, served as a public burial ground from 1882 to 1925 for individuals who died in Milwaukee County and had no means for private burial. More than 7,200 men, women, and children were interred, including approximately 150 African Americans—many among Milwaukee’s earliest Black families. Although African Americans comprised less than one-half of one percent of Milwaukee’s population, they accounted for more than 2.5 percent of burials at this site, with approximately one in six Black residents buried here compared to one in forty European Americans. Archival and archaeological research further indicates that people of color, particularly African Americans, were disproportionately subjected to anatomical study under laws permitting the use of those who died without financial means—conducted without consent.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, burial markers were removed as the County redeveloped the land. In 1932, construction took place directly over the cemetery, destroying more than half of the graves and redistributing human remains across the landscape. In 1985, approximately 900 burials were paved over during roadway construction. In 1991–1992 and again in 2013, disturbances led to the removal of 2,480 individuals—now the nation’s largest and longest-held assemblage of Ancestors exhumed from a single cemetery and not returned to rest. Human remains continue to be uncovered; in June 2025, fragments were found nearly 700 yards away, displaced during 1930s development. Today, there is no marker honoring those buried here. A monument instead commemorates the Nurses’ Residence built atop the cemetery in 1932—later razed in 1992. Cemetery 2 stands as a sacred site and a record of structural inequality, and through the work of the Descendant Community of Milwaukee County Grounds Cemeteries, Inc., efforts are underway to restore dignity through descendant-led reburial and remembrance.

To date, the Descendant Community of Milwaukee County Grounds Cemeteries, Inc. has identified approximately 60 death certificates for the estimated 150 African Americans buried at Cemetery 2, and continues to discover more. This work supports ongoing efforts to reconnect living descendants and include them in decisions regarding their ancestors.