GRAND CHUTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — After nine years, a neglected Fox Valley cemetery has been restored and is hoping to shed light on the area’s mental health history.
Storyboard signs are now installed at the Outagamie County Cemetery, between Brewster Village and Fox Valley Technical College in Grand Chute.
Before volunteers began work on the restoration project in 2013, the cemetery had been overgrown, littered and devoid of headstones. It was the final resting place of 133 people who were staying at the Outagamie County Asylum. They were buried in the cemetery when they were unclaimed by family.
“We’ve come a long way since the 1900’s in mental health and we still have a long way to go and we as a committee felt that we could do a whole lot better at remembering the people that were buried here,” said Laura Shinkan, member of the Friends of Outagamie County Cemetery.
Today, the cemetery includes a granite memorial listing the names of those buried, a pergola and an engraved, black granite bench. A contractor recently repaired the pre-1903 stone bridge crossing the stream along the walking path.
The project was funded by The Nelson Family Fund within The Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, Friends of the Outagamie County Cemetery and TLC Signs.
The Friends of the Outagamie County Cemetery has since dissolved following the completion of this project. They do maintain an active Facebook page for those wishing to locate loved ones through genealogy searches. .
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