A construction crew in Milwaukee made a surprising discovery while renovating a local school.
Accordingly Milwaukee Journal SentinelMany bones were found during the construction of the Maryland Avenue Montessori School. The location sits on the East Side Pottery Grounds, once designated for the burial of the city's poor, derelict and unknown. It was Milwaukee's first potter's field and was used until the mid-1800s, according to Colleen Lies, assistant director of strategic communications for the Wisconsin Historical Society.
A report from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner detailed what they found after descending into the three-foot-deep dig site. Investigators noticed some bones sticking out of the dirt on one of the side walls, and when they brushed some of the dirt away they uncovered a “large amount” of bones.
“[We] Lies “confirmed that all construction has been halted in order to facilitate further coordination with everyone involved,” he said. “UW-Milwaukee Cultural Resource Management is temporarily handling the remains and will complete archeology and analysis of the graves uncovered during construction.”
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The bones are likely linked to a local cholera epidemic more than 160 years old. 1951 Milwaukee Magazine The article notes that the potter's field was the final resting place for many of those who died in Milwaukee's cholera epidemic of 1849 and 1850; this epidemic is believed to have killed approximately 700 of the city's 20,000 residents at the time.
This is not the first time human remains have been found here. The bones were first found at the site in 1887 during the construction of the school and in 1951 during excavations for new construction. As recently as 2021, some bones were discovered during excavations carried out to fix a problem in the basement of the school.
While cholera is often associated with 19he Although it is a problem dating back to the century, it still continues to be a common problem today. In fact, according to the World Health Organization, we are currently facing a cholera epidemic, the numbers of which have been increasing since 2021.