INDIANAPOLIS — Officials are considering moving dozens of human remains found at the Diamond Chain site to a new cemetery on the west side of Indianapolis.
Keystone Group has submitted a reinterment plan to designate Mount Jackson Cemetery as the final resting place for dozens of remains recovered during the Keystone Group-led redevelopment of the Diamond Chain land on Kentucky Avenue the southwest side of downtown Indy. The cemetery is located at 210 North Tibbs Avenue on the west of Indianapolis.
The human remains were located during the development of the Eleven Park project, a $1 billion proposal that would include apartments, office space, restaurants and a 20,000-seat soccer stadium.
Construction crews have been working alongside the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Department of Historic Preservation and Archaeology after crews came across human remains during the early phases of construction.
All human remains and other burial objects that were recovered at the Eleven Park site were initially transferred to Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) physical anthropology department for further analysis and safe storage.
The proposal states that a total of 97 designated burial shafts were found and excavated, with 90 of those containing confirmed human remains. An additional 78 isolated human remains were “mapped and individually collected.”
Officials have indicated that an untold number of additional remains are likely to be found at the Diamond Chain site.
The re-internment plan has been formally submitted to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.
Re-internment will reportedly take place sometime during the summer and fall later this year.
“The discovery and recovery of all of the burials/isolated human remains occurred within the confines of the Peck Cemetery section of Greenlawn during archaeological monitoring of the Diamond Chain demolition,” a portion of the re-internment proposal said. “Isolates and concentrations of human remains (impacted by the construction of Diamond Chain) will be buried together. Unidentified multiple partial burials will be placed in containers with any recovered burial artifacts and re-interred. Unidentified fully intact burials will be re-interred with the artifacts from the burial.”
The plan states that a “respectful memorialization” will take place at Mount Jackson Cemetery after a successful re-internment.
Earlier this week, the city of Indianapolis offered to purchase the nearly 20-acre Diamond Chain property from Keystone Group in the latest twist as Mayor Hogsett continues to push his plan of buying the land and developing it into a memorial or a park.
Instead of the original downtown site, Hogsett’s proposal involves constructing a brand-new soccer stadium on the property of the Indianapolis Heliport on Indy’s southeast side.
The city spent $2 million to purchase a one-acre strip of land from Keystone Group connecting the east bank of the White River with Kentucky Avenue along the path of a planned Henry Street bridge.
The letter to Keystone estimates the city’s budget to recover approximately 650 sets of remains on its one-acre strip at $12 million.
The Indianapolis City-County Council will review the city’s proposal to turn the heliport into a professional sports development area (PSDA) on Tuesday night.
