Visiting Chicago Cemeteries by Suzanne Hanney
Three of Chicago’s oldest cemeteries are lessons in history, and also, surprisingly, in life. “There’s a lot of money here -- and a lot of love,” StreetWise Vendor A. Allen said when he visited Rosehill on the northwest side for the first time. “Most people just have their hand out when you die nowadays, but these people actually mourned their loved ones.” (Please see related story, page 13.) StreetWise Vendors Lee A. Holmes and Paula Green, meanwhile, pondered how the largest concentration of Confederate soldiers outside the South – people who fought against freedom for slaves – could rest peacefully at Oak Woods Cemetery on the South Side, close to Civil Rights icons such as Ida B. Wells Barnett, the Staples Singers and Mayor Harold Washington. (Please see related story, page 11.) Rosehill, Oak Woods, and Graceland in Lakeview are all “garden,” or “rural,” cemeteries dating from roughly the same period in the mid-19th century. Chicago’s City Cemetery, just outside what was then the city limits at North Avenue and the lakefront, was jumbled and crowded -but more than that, a threat to the drinking water supply, civic leaders realized. The last burials at the City Cemetery were in 1866. Disinterments began after Rosehill opened in 1859, followed by the development of Lincoln Park, according to the Hidden Truths website. The English architect Sir Christopher Wren had advocated enclosed burial grounds on the outskirts of towns “decently planted and with yew trees,” as early as 1711, according to Graceland Cemetery material by Jake Coolidge and Joe Collier. Garden cemeteries took hold in the United States as civic institutions rather than religious ones; they became like parks, with statuary commissioned by wealthy families. After Graceland was established in 1861, visitors took the train from North Water Street to spend the day there. Roundtrip fare was 10 cents.
Graceland’s wide roads and open spaces still attract inline skaters, hikers and bicyclists. The Morton Arboretum has certified its collection of 2000 trees as an arboretum and trustees manage removal and planting, with an emphasis on adding color. Besides Japanese Yew, you’ll find 100 varieties, from the Cockspur Hawthorn native to Chicago, to European birch and beech, Norway spruce, Manchurian and Chinese Lilac, and various dogwood, cedar, oak, spirea, viburnum and elm trees. Located at Irving Park Road and Clark Street, Graceland’s 120 acres extend north to Montrose Avenue and east to the CTA Red Line. A visit there connects the dots of Chicago family trees, almost as if you were visiting their homes. “The difference is that Graceland is older money and Rosehill is second wave,” said Al Walavich, a cemetery historian for over 30 years and a founder of the Uptown Historical Society. “Graceland has Marshall Field and the people you would associate with early Chicago and bringing the 1893 World’s Fair to Chicago. With Rosehill, it’s a somewhat later contingent.” Oak Woods, meanwhile, has a reputation as a major Black cemetery, although it was originally segregated. John Kinzie and Dexter Graves are some of the oldest settlers at Graceland. Kinzie was the third owner of Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable’s home on the Chicago River, at what is now the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue. The city’s first permanent nonindigenous resident, Kinzie was born in 1763, died in 1828, and was buried at the Fort Dearborn cemetery, the City Cemetery, and then Graceland. Kinzie Street is named for him. Graves, born in 1793, came to Chicago in 1831 with a contingent from Ohio. A hotel owner, he was listed among 500 Chicagoans on the census prior to incorporation. He died in 1845 and in 1909, his son commissioned Loredo Taft to create “Eternal Silence,” an 8-foot bronze sculpture set against black granite (pictured on the cover).
THIS PAGE: One of the oldest graves in Graceland Cemetery belongs to John Kinzie. OPPOSITE PAGE: Graceland Cemetery photos: CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Potter Palmer's family monument; the tomb of William Kimball and his wife in a similar Grecian style; Daniel Burnham's tombstone; and the Schoenhofens' Egyptian-inspired tomb. Photos by Suzanne Hanney.
