Bone fragments found under Guelph’s Baker Street parking lot ahead of redevelopment project

The City of Guelph says archaeological consultants will be exhuming bone fragments from a grave found under the Baker Street parking lot ahead of a redevelopment project in the area.

The site served as an all-faith cemetery from 1827 to 1853, so the discovery of human remains does not come as a complete shock.

In a news release on Friday, the city said a full excavation for the Baker Street and the adjacent Wyndham Street parking lots is required by the province for archaeological clearance before construction on the Baker District can begin next spring.

“The city is following an established process for managing discoveries of human remains including notification to appropriate agencies,” the news release stated.

Burying people on the site stopped in 1853 because a bylaw was passed banning all human burials within town limits. The city then bought the land several years later in 1879.

When plans were made to move the remains to Woodlawn Memorial Park, family members moved some burials, but others remained, the city said.

Some headstones that were still in place in 1853, and were not moved to the new cemetery, were no longer standing or in place by 1879. This led to a situation of there being a number of unmarked graves when more remains were moved to a new cemetery in 1879, and therefore some were missed.

Discoveries were previously made in 2016, 2010 and in 2005.

The city said all remains found during the excavation now underway will be documented and reinterred at Woodlawn Memorial Park.

The Baker District redevelopment that is being built on the site includes a new central library along with residential and commercial buildings.