Construction workers working on a greenhouse project at Maryland Avenue Montessori on Milwaukee’s east side found human remains on Oct. 2. It was reported by one of the construction workers who found the bones that the remains were sticking out of the dirt on one of the side walls about 3 feet underground. One of the bones is believed to be a femur.
Milwaukee police were called to the scene where they contacted the Milwaukee County Historical Society, who confirmed that the bones were a part of a historical burial ground.
The MCHS removed the bones from the scene and informed the Wisconsin Historical Society about the burial site disturbance. The matter is now being handled by the WHS, as MCHS does not have any input on the matter of human remains, whereas the WHS oversees cemeteries and other burials.
Colleen Lies, the WHS assistant director of strategic communications, explained that the Milwaukee grade school was built on the site of the East Side Potter’s field, a known and recorded uncatalogued burial site for people living in “pest houses” or isolation hospitals. Residents of the isolation hospitals were buried in East Side Potter’s field if they were unclaimed, unknown or had families that were too poor to reclaim their body.
The field was in use throughout the early to mid-1800s but stopped being used for that purpose a few years before Maryland Avenue Montessori was built in 1887.
This incident is not the first time human remains were found at Maryland Avenue Montessori. Bones were found in previous construction projects in 1950 and 2021. The bones are believed to be from people who perished during cholera outbreaks in 1849-1851.
Further construction has been stopped while UW-Milwaukee’s Cultural Resource Management team completes archaeology and analysis work for the burials uncovered during construction.
Construction is presumed to continue following the excavation and reburying of any other bones possibly unearthed during the archaeology search.
