Old Cemetery
City of Muskegon
Between 1st & 2nd Street and Webster and Muskegon Avenue
“To the first residents of this locality, Webster Avenue was the limit beyond which the community would not grow. The saw mills producing lumber were all on the lake front and would not be moved back into forest surrounding the settlement.
Also, the first community cemetery was located between Webster and Muskegon Avenues, with the greater part of it extending from First Street to Second along Muskegon Avenue where the Swedish Mission Church is now located and along First Street to about half way between the two avenues and across to Second Street.
All the land was owned by Theodore Newell and when he made the first plat of his land in 1849, he set aside a portion for use as a cemetery. The first court house was completed in 1870 and contained jail quarters. The first jail building was sold and moved to Hamilton Avenue where it became the residence of a pioneer. The cemetery was used until 1864 when Evergreen Cemetery was opened south of Irwin Avenue. Bodies in the old cemetery were not moved until 1885 and First Street was opened as it is at present. It was in 1885 that a residence for J. C. McLaughlin and wife was built on the southwest corner of First and Webster and later occupied by Dr. George S. Williams, Dr. Busard, and later Mrs. Loomis.”
(“Know Muskegon” by C. H. Yates, Muskegon Chronicle, December 13, 1952)