Attorney General Jim Petro stepped in, obtaining a ruling in Common Pleas Court that removed the caretaker and declared Wesleyan a public cemetery.

It is the resting place of Richard Allison, the first resident physician of Cincinnati,[13] who also held a rank in the military equivalent to Surgeon General from 1792 to 1796.

A section of the cemetery is devoted to soldiers of the American Civil War, in which Medal of Honor recipient William Steinmetz is buried.

Steinmetz served as a corporal in the Union Army in Company G, 83rd Indiana Infantry, and was awarded the Medal of Honor for action on May 22, 1863, at Vicksburg, Mississippi.

In 1992, visitors reported unearthed bones in discarded dirt piles at the cemetery, and claims were made that filled-plots were being resold.

In 2014, the National Park Service formally recognizes Wesleyan Cemetery's role in the audacious plight by naming it a Network to Freedom Landmark.

Wesleyan Cemetery was featured in a season 3 episode of Mysteries at the Monument in 2015 and tells the story of "The Escape of the 28" fugitive slaves.