Why Are There Single Graves at PMMP?

 

Restoration of Rev. Emerson's Grave

A Single Grave Near

the Rosedale Fenceline - PCA Archives

When you look at the historic maps of Rosedale and City/Loosley Cemeteries in Pioneer & Military Memorial Park, you’ll notice something unusual: rows of single graves with large plots. But why?

In the late 1800s, cemeteries needed flexibility. Single graves were mapped out and sold for many reasons:

•     Urgent Burials: Epidemics and sudden deaths meant families needed immediate options. In 1884, when burials were moved into City Loosley, some blocks were even divided into single spaces to make room for the large amounts of reburials taking place.
•     Cost-Effective: A single grave was far more affordable than a family plot, making burial possible for working-class families and newcomers.
•     Frontier Populations: Phoenix was a town of transients.  There were miners, railroad workers, and travelers who often didn’t plan on staying long term…but did anyway.
•     Benevolence:  Different organizations bought graves and then donated them to low-income individuals or families. 
•     Efficient Land Use: Cemeteries could manage revenue and space more effectively by laying out single rows, especially along fence lines or open areas.

Some “single” graves are even present in our lots or blocks.  Some people would buy graves from families or individuals who had a plot.  Many undertakers in town bought blocks of graves.  They also used these graves as “holding places”.  Before refrigeration, single graves sometimes served as short-term resting spots until loved ones could be claimed. Some were never moved, and those individuals remain here today.

These are just a few reasons that we know.  In any case, our cemeteries show a city that was adapting to change in an evolving frontier town.

Alexander Peter Petit (1819 - 1895) - Phoenix Architect (Repost)

 

rosson house, Library of Congress

Alexander Peter Petit was a well-known architect of his time in 1850s California designing theaters such as the National Theater and the New Pacific Theater.  Born in Pennsylvania around 1819 he and wife Catherine arrived in Phoenix about 1878 from California. 

Shortly after his arrival, he designed the Irvine Building on First and Washington Streets, one of the first two story brick buildings in Phoenix.  Petit and his wife moved to Tucson where he designed and built some of the commercial buildings along Congress Street, including the Henry Buehman Photography Studio and Gallery and a school near Military Plaza.  The Arizona Daily Star erected in 1883 is the only remaining evidence of Petit’s work in Tucson.

The Petits returned to Phoenix where in February 1891 Catherine died after a short illness.  She was buried in the IOOF Cemetery at the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park. 

Petit continued his work and his last design was the Rosson House located at 6^th Street and Monroe.  The Rosson House was completed a month before Petit died in March 1895. 

Alexander Petit’s contributions to Arizona have faded over time and one must search for his history.  The Petits’ graves were unmarked for many years in the cemetery making finding the Petits even harder to any historian.  In 2015 the Pioneers’ Cemetery Association, through our Memorial Marker Program, placed two new markers on the Petits’ graves in the I.O.O.F. 

-Donna Carr

Professor Dayton Alonzo Reed (1841-1894) - Principal, Arizona Territorial Normal School

PCA Archives

Dayton Reed was born on 22 Dec 1841 in Millbrook, Wayne County, Ohio.  He was one of seven children born to James Reed and Mary Ann Keister.  Since Dayton’s father was a millwright, young Dayton learned this craft along with farming. 

 After earning his teaching credentials, Dayton moved to Belleville, Ohio where he served as a high school principal from 1866 to 1873.  During that time, his sister Eliza Jane came to keep house for him after her marriage to William Douglass ended in divorce.  She brought with her her young son, Beach.

Dayton had married Sarah Ordway on December 27, 1871 in Richland, Ohio.  However, the marriage seems to have ended with each party going his own way.  By 1880, Sarah was living with her widowed father back in Belleville, Ohio.  Since the census describes Sarah’s father as consumptive, she may have gone there to care for him.  No evidence of divorce has been found, and Sarah did not remarry until after Dayton’s death.

Around 1873, Dayton moved to Los Angeles, California, where he continued to teach for 12 years.  He then moved to Arizona where he became a principal for the Phoenix Public School system in 1885.  He resigned that position in 1887 to enter into the more lucrative real estate and banking business in Phoenix.   

On June 28, 1890, Dayton became the third principal of the Arizona Territorial Normal School (now Arizona State University) where he taught language, mathematics and pedagogy.  During his brief, ten-month tenure as principal, he improved the appearance of the campus by having fencing, trees and plumbing installed.  His salary was $200 a month, a generous sum for the time.

Eventually, Dayton was diagnosed with consumption and was forced to resign his position because of ill health.  A long-time member of the Masons, he was elevated to Grand Master of the Phoenix lodge prior to his death.  He died July 12, 1894 and was buried in the Masons Cemetery (now part of the Phoenix Military and Memorial Park). 

Dayton’s sister, Eliza Jane Douglass, succumbed to cancer on February 3, 1895, and was buried next to him in the Masons Cemetery.

 

- by Patricia 

Labor Day 2025

New York Parage, Labor Day, 1895

Library of Congress

Happy Labor Day Everyone!