Detroit Memorial Park cemetery celebrates centennial

WARREN — Prior to the year 1925, when a Black Detroiter died, oftentimes there was not a proper burial or funeral.

Because of discrimination, many Black families buried their loved ones late at night, entered cemeteries through side gates, or laid them to rest in the very back of the graveyard. Sometimes, too, they were flat out denied a final resting place.

By 1924, Charles Diggs Sr., a Black state legislator and mortician, decided he had enough of that kind of mistreatment. He called on several Black leaders to invest in a place for the departed that welcomed everyone regardless of race, creed or religion. Black pharmacist Aaron C. Toodle helped Diggs lead the efforts.

A group of Black investors pooled together their money to purchase 85 acres of farmland in the area of what is now 13 Mile and Ryan roads. There, they established Detroit Memorial Park in 1925.

Located at 4280 E. 13 Mile Road, just east of Ryan, the cemetery is celebrating 100 years of service and compassion. A gala was hosted June 28 at the Auburn Hills Pontiac Marriott to commemorate the milestone.

“It’s hard to believe,” Detroit Memorial Park President Wilbur B. Hughes III said about the centennial. “We want every family to feel their loved ones are at rest in a safe, welcoming and peaceful setting.”

He attributed the cemetery’s longevity to the bonds that formed early in the company’s history.

“Almost everyone that has been on our board for the last 100 years is related to the original investors,” said Hughes III, whose grandfather was one of the initial financial supporters. “That’s how my family got involved. We like to say this is a cemetery for everyone. In the very beginning there were bishops and pastors that would tell parishioners of Detroit Memorial Park.”

Through the decades, staff built relationships with local funeral home directors, which helped spread the word about the Black-owned cemetery. In the last 100 years, the board of directors and employees created an institution that offers chapel services, ground burials, mausoleum burials for people or cremains, headstones, memorial stone benches, cremation burials and niche inurnment. It also has been identified as a historic site through the Michigan Historical Marker Program.

Detroit Memorial Park is divided into several sections, including a Garden of the Cross, Garden of Love, Garden of Truth, Garden of Prayer and Garden of Gethsemane. There is a children’s cemetery and a final resting spot for military veterans.

Although Black families finally had a place for proper burials, it wasn’t always easy for them to travel from downtown Detroit to Warren in the early days the park operated.

“What if it was snowing and you’re coming from Detroit on a dirt road. Much of the day was spent getting here and getting back,” Hughes III said. “But you did get a dignified service and burial. That was the good part. You weren’t going to be rejected once you got out here.”

 

‘There’s such a rich legacy’
Surrounded by trees, each headstone pays tribute to the people who are laid to rest. They were moms, dads, grandparents and great-grandparents survived by their loved ones. Many burial plots have families from different generations. Flowers are placed at graves, and sometimes balloons for the deceased sway in the wind.

The first interment was Oct. 27, 1926, of infant Emma L. Brown, who was a stillborn baby. Staff members still become emotional at her memory. Many prominent Black politicians, business leaders, lawyers, preachers, and musicians are buried on the grounds.

Anyone who has ever heard the term “The Real McCoy” can thank Elijah McCoy. According to Legend, the phrase came about because of him. During his lifetime, the science enthusiast acquired numerous patents for his inventions. When he died in 1929, he was interred at Detroit Memorial Park.

The cemetery is the final resting place for other well-known members of the Black community, including U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr. in the mausoleum; Richard H. Austin, Michigan’s longest-serving secretary of state from 1971-1994; and Ron Banks: founder of the soul group the Dramatics. Diggs Sr. and Toodle also are buried there.

Detroit Memorial Park is the burial spot for Florence Ballard of the Supremes, who died in 1976 at age 32. Etched with two musical notes, her gravestone reads “Florence Glenda Chapman beloved wife and mother.” One of the groundskeepers, Dennis Dewey, said that people from other states and even someone from England have come to the cemetery specifically to visit the Motown singer’s gravesite.

Dewey also shared a story about another singer, Philippe E. Wynne, lead vocalist of the Spinners who died in 1984. He said that when a fan came to pay his respects, there was no gravestone. Bothered by that, “he paid to have the headstone made.” Dewey often listens to music when working and anytime the Spinners or the Supremes come on, “I turn it up loud.”

Carol Maddox McKinney has been employed with Detroit Memorial Park 39 years. She started working there at age 18 and grew with the company since that time. As chief operating officer, she makes sure the daily operations run smoothly.

“It’s been an honor working here,” she said. “There’s such a rich legacy. We’ve been able to serve the Detroit area community and funeral directors.”

She learned a lot over the years, including from Hughes’ mother, Roberta Hughes Wright, who died in 2019.

“I was really close with his mom,” she said. “She used to come here every Thursday. Rain, shine, sleet or snow, you could count on her coming through the door.”

Roberta Hughes Wright left her legacy with the company. She penned the cemetery’s history in the book “Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery: The Evolution of an African American Corporation.”

Since opening in Warren, Detroit Memorial Park expanded to add two other locations: Detroit Memorial Park West in Redford, which opened in 1988, and Gracelawn Cemetery in Flint, which opened in 1996.