Munroe Falls, Ohio
New County Home
Tucked away to the left once you enter the Tallmadge Meadows hiking path in Munroe Falls Metro Park is a potter’s field. The people buried there, most in unmarked graves, although there are a few gravestones placed by the deceased’s loved ones, lived in the New County Home.
Built between 1916 and 1919, the New County Home operated until the 1970s. Although it expanded over the years, to include a surgical center and hospital quarters, the New County Home is best known for being a place where the indigent, mentally ill, and cognitively and developmentally disabled lived. It also unhoused unwed mothers, those addicted to various drugs and alcohol, and more. Basically, if society didn’t know what to do with you, you often found yourself in one of these institutions.
Image from: https://www.summitmemory.org/digital/collection/pockrandt/id/32/
Why is it Called the New County Home?
The original county home, located on West Exchange Street in Akron opened in 1864. It remained in operation until the New County Home opened. There are plenty of rumors regarding the County Home, including those relating to body snatchers, such as a doctor who sold the dead to various medical colleges for around $5.
When that particular County Home shut down, the land was purchased by Philip Schneider. He built homes on some of the acreage (now located on Mull Avenue and Rose Boulevard, among others), but couldn’t do anything with the 15 acres of swamp-like land that remained. He turned this into a city park, called Schneider Park, leaving it to the city upon his death in 1935.
As it turns out, there’s a good reason why that land was never developed: it was the cemetery for the County Home, and full of unmarked graves. In 2017, a group of University of Akron students, led by Dr. Tim Matney of the Archaeology department, studied the area using a number of techniques, from walking the land and examining it via drone footage. They concluded that there are 150 graves in this particular pauper’s cemetery, although few records exist.
The New County Home Cemetery
Things are a bit different at the New County Home Cemetery. Not only were the records compiled by the Ohio Genealogical Society, but the cemetery itself is separated from the park by a fence. Although it’s believed that the fenced-in section doesn’t include every burial, it does delineate the area.
When the Summit County Metro Parks purchased the old New County Home land, they preserved the cemetery, adding in a few markers. Other than the larger stone with a plaque and the gravestone shown above, there are only two headstones in the pauper’s cemetery. They belong to Constantina Plarinos and John Keck.
Remember, the next time you visit Munroe Falls Metro Park to stop and visit the cemetery, in order to pay tribute to the many people buried there in unmarked (and marked) graves.
Sources
- https://www.summitmetroparks.org/munroe-falls-metro-park.aspx
- https://beltmag.com/rip-unknown-skeletal-remains/
- https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2374960/new-county-home-cemetery
- https://m.facebook.com/akronhistory/photos/the-old-infirmary-body-snatching-rape-and-murder-the-old-summit-county-infirmary/10151883805732047/
- https://www.summitmemory.org/digital/collection/pockrandt/id/32/
- https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/08/documentary-telling-the-disturbing-secrets-beneath-akrons-schneider-park-to-air-on-pbs-western-reserve-next-month.html
- https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/local/2017/07/08/ua-students-summarize-findings-for/10740284007/
Found in Ohio 
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