AKRON, Ohio — For nine years, Jane Greenland has been on a mission to add one word to the park across the street from her home.
Her determination has paid off, and she now has the support from Akron City Council and Mayor Shammas Malik to change the name of Schneider Park in West Akron to Schneider Memorial Park.
Greenland, 77, has lived by the park for more than 30 years and said the space brings her a lot of joy.
"It just makes me smile a lot and I like to see who's walking," Greenland said. "The dogs love to play in this park."
However, over time, she started to feel like the name did not appropriately recognize the park's history as a burial site for hundreds of people.
"Maybe we should put a word in there that indicates we're trying to remember people," Greenland said. "This has been a nine-year mission for me to get this name changed.
Long before it was a park, the site was home to a poor farm, and then, an infirmary from the 1860s to 1918.
It's also the site where hundreds of forgotten immigrants, children, and others who died in the infirmary are buried.
"There are at least just over 300 people," said Carolyn Behrman, a professor emerita of anthropology at the University of Akron.
To Behrman and Greenland, the deceased have been dishonored, placed in unmarked graves for decades.
"Everybody at some level could have always known, there was no hiding. It was more a kind of community-level forgetting," Behrman said.
Greenland started to get the idea in her head to rename the park at the same time News 5 covered a story in 2017. University of Akron archaeology students used sub-surface mapping equipment to help identify the grave sites.
Greenland kept thinking about those students and the project, collected signatures to add the word "Memorial," and testified before Akron City Council on Monday.
She got her wish when a resolution, introduced by Councilwoman Jan Davis, was passed, urging city leaders to adopt the name change.
"It's a designation that acknowledges the sacred history of that land and memorializes those who were laid to rest there," Davis said.
City Spokesperson Stephanie Marsh said Mayor Shammas Malik supports the name change and the Akron leaders will coordinate with Councilwoman Davis on a renaming event.
For Behrman, it's long overdue.
"I think it's about dignity for them, and I think it's about recognition that lends dignity to our community at large, as we have evolved," Behrman said.
Greenland believes her determination, along with support from the community, has made a difference to honor those who are gone but no longer forgotten.
"I feel like I'm on cloud 9 at the moment. I'm so happy."
