UB to dedicate South Campus garden memorializing former Poorhouse residents

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo will hold a dedication ceremony at the site of a new memorial garden on Monday, Nov. 26, at 3 p.m. to honor those who died in the care of the former Erie County Poorhouse and were buried on land that is today part of UB’s South Campus.

The South Campus memorial garden is situated immediately to the west of Clark Hall and is accessible by way of Rotary Road. The landscaped garden is enclosed by a circular walkway with a roughly 6-foot monument of American black granite that is flanked by park benches. The inscription reads:

The land surrounding this monument formerly served as the burial grounds for those who died while in the care of the Erie County Poorhouse (1851-1913). Some of the deceased have been respectfully reinterred to a permanent resting place at Assumption Cemetery on Grand Island, New York. Others remain in the unmarked graves in which they were buried. Though the names of those men, women and children are lost as part of an unrecorded history, the spirit of their identity and the dignity of their memory will be forever honored.

Charles F. Zukoski, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, and Laura Hubbard, vice president for finance and administration, will preside and deliver remarks as part of the 30-minute ceremony.

Also scheduled to speak are Douglas Perrelli, clinical assistant professor and director of UB’s nonprofit Archaeological Survey, and Joyce E. Sirianni, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, both faculty members in UB’s Department of Anthropology and co-directors of the process to respectfully restore reinter the deceased.

Light refreshments in Abbott Hall will immediately follow the ceremony.

What: Dedication of UB’s South Campus Memorial Garden.

Where: To the immediate west of Clarke Hall on the university’s South Campus, building 14 on this map.

When: Monday, Nov. 26, at 3 p.m.