Those buried were largely forgotten, despite reports of human remains resurfacing over the years, including during the rerouting of 25th Street in the 1950s, which resulted in the unearthing of several bodies. In 1957, the city of West Palm Beach sold a section of the burial grounds to a sewage disposal plant, but the property changed ownership again in the 1980s when the city exchanged the land for property on 23rd street, just to the south of the grounds and where a church was located. After some deed restrictions were lifted in 1985, the church sold the land to Palm Beach Exterminating owner Bernard Kolkana, who was planning the construction of a warehouse on the property. Unaware of the mass burial, Kolkana purchased the land for $175,000 in 1987, a year before his son, Jim, bought the land for $230,000.
