‘Crypt Keepers’

Alejandra Young always wondered how all those flowers get on the headstones in the old City Cemetery. The Hudson Elementary fourth-grader no longer has to wonder.

Young and her classmates have begun a research project on the cemetery, which is located between the 200 and 400 blocks of East Madison Street. During the project, students will learn about the significance of the varied gravestones and the people who are buried there.

“I’m very excited to learn about the cemetery,” Young said. “I’ve never been to there before, but I’ve passed by it. For example I didn’t know that there are 30,000 people buried there.”

Student activities are part of a larger preservation project of the city of Brownsville, Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation and the Brownsville Historical Association.

The History Channel recently awarded the Brownsville Historical Association a $10,000 Save Our History grant. BHA is using the money to restore the old City Cemetery and for the creation of the old City Cemetery Center at 600 East Jackson St.

“We developed the Save Our History grant because we believe that organizations like the BHA can’t preserve the city’s historical sites by itself,” said Libby O’Connell, chief historian for the History Channel. “They have to form partnerships, like BHA has done with Hudson Elementary.”

The History Channel awards 25 grants every year. Awards rage from $1,000 to $10,000, O’Connell said.

The creation of a bilingual brochure about the cemetery, which students will help develop using primary sources from the BHA, was especially unique and perhaps the key component that earned it the $10,000 grant, according to O’Connell.

When the project is completed on Oct. 18, students’ contributions will be available on the BHA Web site at Brownsvillehistory.org.

Young is the only student eager to tackle this particular project, according to Noel Kendall, fourth-grade teacher at Hudson.

Jacob Blackmon, another of Kendall’s students, has great grandparents buried in the old City Cemetery, Kendall said.

“Jacob and his dad are very eager to begin this project,” Kendall said. “Actually, everyone is excited. This should be a lot of fun.”

Kendall is leading her students on yet another community learning project.

On the heels of last year’s project on Brownsville’s architectural heritage, Kendall already has this year’s class immersed in Brownsville history.

Students are supposed to learn about Brownsville’s heritage, Kendall said, but she also hopes they learn to be respectful of what they find.

But lessons from the crypt aren’t exactly the same as architecture, and Kendall wasn’t sure what to expect.

“You never quite know how 9-year-olds will react when you say cemetery,” Kendal said. “But, these are very mature students. We’re going to have a lot of fun with this one.”

The BHA is spearheading the cemetery restoration project. The site had fallen into disrepair after years of vandalism, and to reverse the damage the BHA partnered with the city and students.

To curb vandalism the city will install new security measures, including bulletproof lights. There will also be a beautification project, according to Priscilla Rodriguez, of the BHA.

The historical association’s partnership with Hudson Elementary has been dubbed Keepers of the Crypt.

“The students’ project ties into this larger project,” Rodriguez said. “Students will help create bilingual maps, tours and a brochure that will be a kid’s history of the museum.”