Human remains found at Milwaukee school

Construction crews working on a green house project at Maryland Avenue Montessori on Milwaukee’s east side uncovered a little bit of history when they dug into the school grounds. 

The crew discovered human remains while working at the site Oct. 2, which Milwaukee police confirmed were part of a historical burial ground. Police said the Milwaukee County Historical Society was contacted.

Ben Barbera, executive director of the historical society, said the remains were turned over to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s office. 

According to a report from the medical examiner released Oct. 8, “multiple bones were found by excavators while digging behind a school.”

A large amount of bones were sticking out of the dirt on one of the side walls about 3 feet under ground, the report said.

Barbera said this isn’t the first time human bones were found on school grounds. Maryland Avenue Montessori was built in 1887. 

Before that, it was the site of a pest house cemetery. A pest house was another name for an isolation hospital. 

Human remains were also found on the grounds during additions at the school in 1950 and 2021. Those remains were believed to belong to people who perished during cholera outbreaks, Barbera said. 

“The only two times we’ve been contacted were at this Maryland Avenue Montessori site,” Barbera said. “So I don’t know if it does happen more often, and we just don’t hear about it. Or if it’s a very isolated event.”

About 10 years ago, more than 1,000 unmarked graves were discovered in Wauwatosa by construction workers during an expansion project at the Froedtert Hospital campus. 

Milwaukee County paid more than $2 million to remove the remains so the project could move forward. 

Thousands of poor residents were buried on county land in the late 1800s and into the 1900s.

More than 1,600 remains were removed from the paupers cemetery in the 1990s for a previous expansion project.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with details from the medical examiner’s report released Oct. 8.