Pinyon Park, Sparks Nevada
This past October, KOLO, a local news channel, reported on a small park in southwest Sparks that had been built over a cemetery. It seemed outrageous to me that a park would have been allowed to be built over bodies that remained interred on the property and I wanted to learn more; what I found was sad and tragic. From 1882-1947, approximately 600 patients from the nearby State Mental Health Institute have been buried on an adjacent piece of property with little or no ceremony. If there were any markers placed, they have long disappeared. In 1959, the city leased a portion of the land and built a park; no bodies having ever been removed. For the past 41 years, children have played, families have picniced and basketball games have been played over the graves of anonymous inmates of what was formerly called the Nevada Insane Asylum. In 1977 road construction on 21st street unearthed several coffins. The Nevada State Journal reported that bones were discovered by children playing in the
