South Township     Section:  27 Township 39  Range: 14

Open circa: 1835- 1847

 Let us remember a cemetery whose site later became a major Chicago brewery and now is the huge McCormick Place convention center and hotel complex.

About 1833, sixteen acres of land were purchased for a municipal town cemetery but reserved for Catholics. On August 15, 1835, the town surveyor was ordered to survey the property and completed the task on August 26. The Northside Cemetery was laid out at the same time, a subject of a separate blog post on this website.  Continue reading “Southside Cemetery – Chicago 1835”

Once located in the sand hills of the lake shore, between 16^th and 18^th,streets, centered  about east of 1729 S Prairie or the Northeast corner of 18th street and Prairie Avenue. Chicago, Cook County, Illinois 60605 

    South Township     Section: SW 1/4 22 Township 39  Range: 14

 This is one of the first early white burial sites in Chicago whose bodies were later reburied at the Fort Dearborn Cemetery.  Historical accounts state that on August 15, 1812, 39 men, 2 women, and 12 children led by Captain William Wells and John Kinzie started out south along the beach from Fort Dearborn for Fort Wayne when a surprise Indian attack took place. Their bones lay in the sand, half buried where they were killed, until 1816 when Fort Dearborn was reopened. They were then reburied at the Common Burial Ground at Fort Dearborn, also referred to as Fort Cemetery or Garrison Cemetery. Continue reading “1812 Massacre Site south of Fort Dearborn”

 

(Also known as: Common Burial Ground at Fort Dearborn and Garrison Cemetery)

South Township –     Section: E 1/2 10 Township 39  Range: 14  Circa 1805 – 1835

 

In the summer of 1803, the Schooner Tracy arrived with the building materials and supplies needed to construct the first Fort Dearborn. Another ship brought sixty‑six men and three officers. The fort, finished in late summer, 1803,  also served the early settlers but was destroyed during the massacre of 1812 and was not re-established until 1816.

 

And where ever people gather, deaths begin to occur and a place for the dead need to be established. Fort Dearborn Cemetery can well be considered Chicago’s first cemetery. Very little physical description of Fort Cemetery is known, but we know  the site was not much more than sand, which shifted with the winds off Lake Michigan. It was  difficult if not impossible to maintain the graves against the elements. Markers at best were probably simple wooden  headboards or crosses. Many other graves probably went unmarked.

Continue reading “Fort Dearborn Cemetery”

The most unique story of all Chicago area cemeteries. Located on Chicago’s Northwest side northwest of  Irving Park Road (4000 North and Narragansett (6400 West), nine miles from Downtown

Continue reading “Cook County Cemetery at Dunning”

 

Meet Lyman Budlong (1829-1909) a  pioneer in the pickle industry, who built a massive farm of 700 acres in Bowmanville, now just a neighborhood on Chicago’s north side, centered about Lincoln and Foster. He grew tomatoes, onions, carrots, and lettuce but his huge money crop was cucumbers and became one of the largest supplier of premium pickles. In later years he began growing flowers in a huge number of greenhouses. And, along the way,  he discovered skeletons buried on his property! Continue reading “14 Skeletons found under a Pickle Farm”