At the time of its creation, Central Burying Ground was established to alleviate serious overcrowding at King’s Chapel, Copp’s Hill, and Granary Burying Grounds. Petitions requesting a new burying ground were made to the Board of Selectmen as early as 1740. In 1748, after several additional requests and petitions in town meetings for a new burying ground, the selectmen appointed a committee to research a suitable parcel of land at the south end of town. At that time, the south end of Boston was only a little tail to the larger central town, so there was not much land to choose from. The selectmen wanted to avoid taking any land from the Common, which was used for public grazing and military training. Finally, in 1756, a land sale was negotiated with Andrew Oliver Jr., owner of land adjacent to the south side of the Boston Common.

In November of 1795, the town recommended the closure of Granary and King’s Chapel Burying Grounds due to the overcrowded conditions of the grounds. As a result, tombs (underground crypts) were built along the entire perimeter of Central Burying Ground. The new tombs on the southern edge of the site extended out to the edge of Frog Lane (soon to become Boylston Street). They were so popular that a second row of tombs running parallel to the first row was added.

Burials were disturbed two times in the 19th century. Desires to upgrade the Boston Common and improve the road adjacent to Central Burying Ground led to the removal of a double row of tombs on the south side of the burying ground in 1836. The City of Boston built a large above-ground double row of tombs, which currently stands in the western part of the site, to reinter the disturbed remains. A second disturbance occurred in 1895 when a subway tunnel was excavated along Boylston Street. Workers found some tombs that had not been removed earlier, as well as some other human remains. A large grave in the northwest part of the site was built to contain the remains of those disinterred during the construction.

The people buried in this site are representative of the population of Boston during the period of its activity. The majority of the gravestones utilize the common New England gravestone carvings, death’s head, cherub, and urn and willow. The legalization of Catholicism in 1780 led to the appearance of some Catholic symbols on gravestones. Masonic symbols also began to appear. Those with greater economic means purchased underground tombs to bury family members. Starting in 1771, the sexton of the almshouse started making burials in Central Burying Ground due to the Granary and King’s Chapel Burying Ground being too full. African Americans, both free and enslaved, were buried here. The site also received the remains of “strangers,” or people who were not from Boston but died within the town limits.

Some of the interesting people buried here include the painter, Gilbert Stuart; best known for his portrait of George Washington which was used for the one dollar bill; Chow Manderien, a young sailor from China who died in Boston Harbor; 14 participants in the Boston Tea Party; and Francis Cabot Lowell who established the Boston Manufacturing Company that built the first integrated cotton mill in the world in Waltham, Massachusetts (his remains were removed from the burying ground to Forest Hills Cemetery during the installation of the subway). It is believed that some British officers from the Battle of Bunker Hill are buried here, but this fact cannot be confirmed.