Northside Cemetery – Chicago 1835

North Side Cemetery 1835-1847

Also known as Chicago Avenue Cemetery, the Chicago Tribune of 1897 described the cemetery as “..extended from Rush to Sand (now St. Clair) street, and from Chicago avenue (to) five blocks north. Dewitt C. Creiger who had to do with the removal of bodies, described the cemetery as a “most dismal place. There was nothing but sand and sand”, said Mr. Creiger. “Tombstones there were some, though over some graves, wooden crosses and other emblems had been put up. After a windstorm, the bleak shore looked positively grewsome. The sands would be piled in little piles on some graves, while at the low places the coffins, sometime half showing their contents, would be exposed. By 1843, the removal of the bodies to the half mile section north of North Avenue (City Cemetery) bought by the city, had begun, but a large number of bodies were never taken out, and to this day, human excavations are made at or near the water-works.” Another report states that this process of grave removal continued to 1847.