NRHP Reference # 71000061 Area 809.4 m² Phone +1 215-922-5446 Burials Haym Salomon, Samuel Hays | Designated PHMC n/a Year built 1740 Added to NRHP 24 June 1971 | |
 | ||
Location Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Address 825 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA Similar Congregation Mikveh Israel, Free Quaker Meetinghouse, Dolley Todd House, Old Pine Street Church, Christ Church Burial Gr | ||
Mikveh Israel Cemetery is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (the oldest in the United States is the first cemetery of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York). The site, less than 0.2 acres (810 m2) in size, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and administered by Independence National Historical Park (even though the expense of maintaining the cemetery is borne by sponsoring Congregation Mikveh Israel). It is located in the center city section of Philadelphia, on the north-west corner of Spruce St. and S. Darien St. (between 8th and 9th St.), about 1⁄4 mi west and 1⁄4 mi south of Independence Hall.
Mikveh Israel Cemetery was originally a private burial ground for the family of Nathan Levy, whose ship, Myrtilla was long reputed to have transported the Liberty Bell from England to Philadelphia in 1752 (though the Hibernia, captained by William Child, is more likely to have transported the bell). In 1738, one of Levy's children died. Rather than bury the child in unsanctified ground, he applied to John Penn (chief of Pennsylvania's proprietary government at that time) for "a small piece of ground" with permission to make it a family cemetery. This property was at the corner of 9th and Walnut Streets, the present site of the Walnut Street Theatre. Two years later, Nathan Levy secured a larger plot from the Penn family at the present location of Mikveh Israel Cemetery. This was meant to be a permanent burial ground for the entire Jewish community of Philadelphia. Levy was buried there upon his death in 1753.
The cemetery in 1740 was a 30' x 30' plot. In 1752, Nathan Levy received an additional grant of land north of the first plot. In 1765, John Penn granted Mathias Bush an adjacent piece of ground for burial purposes. By that time, the burial place was managed by the Sephardic synagogue Congregation Mikveh Israel (official name: קהל קדוש מקוה ישראל, Kahal Kadosh Mikveh Israel, or "Holy Congregation Hope of Israel"), founded in 1740 and still active in the 21st century.
Burials
Many distinguished Americans are buried in Mikveh Israel Cemetery. They include:
The cemetery ceased to be a regular place of burial in 1886 except for the interment of Josephine Etting in 1913, Fanny Polano Elmaleh, wife of Reverend Leon H. Elmaleh, in 1966, and Reverend Leon H. Elmaleh in 1972.