The tiny cemetery, brought about ironically by a wave of contagion on a site that was destined to become one of the outstanding centers in the nation for preservation of health, came near being the burial ground for the entire city of Indianapolis.

Article Revives Interest

Discovered 10 years ago when landscaping was in progress on the medical center camps, the cemetery was set aside by a group of small evergreen trees. Interest in it was revived recently when Dr. Thurman B. Rice, member of the faculty of the Indiana University school of medicine, published an article on the history of the medical center in the Quarterly Bulletin of the school.

Announcement that a permanent marker would be installed was made by Dr. W. D. Gatch, dean of the medical school, and James W. Carr, secretary of the James Whitcomb Riley Memorial Association.

The wave of contagion which resulted in the burial ground came in 1821 and nearly wiped out the community. Dr. Rice points out in his article that Fall creek then followed a course along the present site of James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children and the Robert H. Long Hospital. The settlers choose this location partly because of a sawmill constructed by Robert Barnhill, great-grandfather of Dr. John Barnhill, professor emeritus of otolaryngology of the school of medicine, and Isaac Wilson.

Epidemic Believed Malaria

"It is likely that this area would have become the downtown district of the city -- a most unfortunate choice because of the danger of floods, had there not arisen in 1821 a dreadful epidemic," Dr. Rice wrote. "Nearly everyone was ill and a large proportion of the population died during that terrible summer. Concerning the exact nature of the disease we can only guess, but it probably was malaria as we may judge by the fact that it showed intermittent chills and fevers and stopped abruptly with the coming of cold weather."

As the disease took the lives of the approximately 100 citizens a burial ground was sought and "a pleasant knoll on the bluff overlooking Fall creek was chosen." This knoll continued to be on "the bluff overlooking Fall creek" until 1973, when the course of the creek was changed. In the process of landscaping the campus 10 years ago several headstones were uncovered and it was feared that open graves would be unearthed, but none appeared.

Discovery of the burial ground brought back memories among old-timers of conditions that were not so far removed from the primitive times of the settlers. The site of City Hospital was chosen, Dr. Rice pointed out, because "in those days it was supposed that it would be dangerous to locate the hospital in the city proper. It was believed that disease would spread from it as a focus. Furthermore, hospitals smelled bad and so it was decided to put it some distance away from the city proper, and inasmuch as the bottomland near the river was a most unhealthful and unattractive spot, no harm could be done."

Streets "Terrible" Unlighted

The streets to the hospital in those days were "terrible" and unlighted, Dr. Rice wrote, but a doctor losing his way "just followed his nose." Dr. Barnhill recalls that Indiana avenue was a "slough of despond."

Yet the present medical center campus, beautiful and modernized, is not so far removed from the era of mud and floods. Dr. Rice points out that only six or seven years ago the area was an eye-sore.

"The changes which have taken place are almost beyond belief," he wrote. "An enormous fill was needed and the material available was mostly ashes, blocks of broken concrete, trash of all sorts, automobile bodies and tin cans. In summer the place was overgrown with weeds and in the winter the mud was terrible. There were no trees and grass. A great pond of black, dirty water was dammed up in North street. The students dubbed it "Lake Neff," therefore "honoring" Robert E. Neff, the administrator, and later "Thompson's bayou," again "honoring" the administrator. Still later it became "Roland's Pond." At least the place has been made a beaty spot ..."

Location of Cemetery

The burial ground is about 150 north of the medical school building and adjoins Barnhill drive, which was named for Dr. Barnhill and his ancestors. It is southeast of Riley Hospital. The early life of the Hoosier poet is woven into the area, although the selection of the site of the hospital had nothing to do with this.

The Samuel J. Patterson homestead stood just north of the burial ground. Riley was a relative of the Pattersons and as a boy visited and played around the homestead. Years later a great hospital was to be built in his memory near the spot, not because of the location of the homestead, but because of his poems and because the City Hospital, greatly enlarged and established despite its dubious start in life, formed the nucleus for a medical center.