Holy Cross Cemetery was the first Catholic cemetery in Seattle. It was located at the current (2014) site of Seattle Preparatory School on Capitol Hill (2400 11th Avenue E). Holy Cross received burials from 1885 until 1905, when it was ordered closed by the City. The remains of those buried there were moved to Calvary Cemetery in the city's Ravenna neighborhood, which had opened in 1889.
Unsuitable Ground
Father Emmanuel Demanez purchased the land for Holy Cross Cemetery on Seattle's Capitol Hill in 1884. The two and three-quarter acre cemetery was platted on July 31, 1885, and the first burials were made there later that year.
Unfortunately, the site chosen was not well-suited for use as a cemetery as the ground was extremely wet, and relatively few burials took place. In 1893 the land was ordered vacated, but that order later was rescinded. In 1905 the City of Seattle again ordered the cemetery vacated, and it was closed later that year. There were only approximately 100 people buried at Holy Cross, and their remains were removed to the Calvary Cemetery in the city's Ravenna neighborhood.
From Graves to Education
After the cemetery was closed, the property was purchased by the local Swedish Baptist Church, which opened Adelphia College on the site in 1905. When Adelphia was closed in 1919, a wealthy Seattle Catholic, T. C. McHugh, purchased the site and donated it to Seattle College (now Seattle University). It was used to house the Seattle College High School. In 1933, the name was changed to Seattle Preparatory School and has remained so since.
