13 year old Laura Elfring-buried in the middle of O’Hare Airport!

Her name was Laura Theodora Katharine Elfring, born August 18, 1885, in Barrington Illinois, the first born of Friedrich Johann Gerhard Carl “Fred” Elfring (1858-1930) and Mary Landwehr Elfring (1861-1952)

Thirteen-year-old Laura was killed on the morning of April 10, 1898 on the Milwaukee Road railroad tracks at Bensenville, struck by a morning milk train heading to Chicago.

Her father, Fred Elfring was born in Schale Germany and immigrated to Illinois in 1870.  He married Mary Landwehr on November 11, 1884, in St. John’s Lutheran Church in Addison. He had a store selling groceries and general merchandise for a number of years and was postmaster of Bensenville for over 37 years, having been appointed at age 31 on June 27, 1889.

Her mother, Mary Landwehr was born about 2 miles north of Bensenville in 1861 but as a child grew up in Chicago. Her father was the first omnibus driver on Milwaukee Avenue. Both she and her family survived the Chicago fire of 1871 and moved out to Bensenville shortly thereafter.

Here is the family portrait of Fred and Mary and four children taken in 1894.

Seated at left is Fred. then Laura standing to his left, age about 9 at the time of the picture. Mary Landwehr Elfring is standing. Laura’s younger sister Delia Louise at about age 6 is standing directly in front of Mary. Seated in front of Delia is Friedrich George (Fred George) at about age 3. The youngest between Laura and Delia possibly but not confirmed could be Walter, about age 1 , who would die in 1900 six years after this photograph. Melvin William (Jack) born 1897, Harry George born 1900, and Elnora born 1904 are obviously not in the picture because they had not been born yet.

Laura’s  birth certificate shows Dora Katy Elfring but she was always known as Laura.

It was only a 8-minute, .4 mile walk from her house at 111 N Center Street to the two-story frame Green Street school (district 2). About halfway to school on the morning of April 10, 1898 thirteen year old Laura was killed on the Milwaukee Road railroad tracks at Center Street in Bensenville, struck by a milk train.

 From the monument that her parents, Fred and Mary Elfring had lovingly erected in her honor, Laura is well depicted as a schoolgirl holding books as she might have been walking to school on that fateful morning in 1898.

From  her age we surmise that she might have been in the seventh or eighth grade attending the Bensenville District 2 Green Street school.

Here are two photographs of Green School classes the first is of 1894, the second is an unknown year in the 1890s.

We can only speculate whether or not Laura appears in either picture, but both pictures help to show the look and dress of other students in those years. A picture of one such student, Laura Franzen taken with her family about 1900 gives us a glimpse of a 14-year-old girl’s clothing of the day and possibly similar to Laura Elfring..

Green School was built in 1885 and was similar to this school in District 3.. By 1916, the frame building was considered too small to accommodate the growing number of students, and it was condemned. A new larger Green School of brick was built.

 Laura Elfring likely died at the Chicago, Minneapolis, and St Paul Railroad crossing at Center Street, just a few steps east of the Bensenville railroad station and about halfway on her walk from the Elfring house to her classes at Green District 2 School.  

The decision to build a railroad through Bensenville, Wood Dale and Itasca may well have been influenced by production of dairy products in these communities. By 1874, the railroad was hauling 300,000 gallons of milk a year from Bensenville to Chicago, 17.2 miles east. The local farmers had to get up early to milk their Holstein cows and strain the milk into eight gallon cans.

It was taken to the depot to be loaded on the early morning train to Chicago. Later in the day, the train from Chicago returned with the empty cans to be used the next day.

Laura’s sad funeral was attended by her grieving parents, her younger sister Delia Louise age 10, and three brothers. There was Frederick George (known as Fred George), age 9, Walter age 6 who himself would die about nine months later and buried at Resthaven, and Melvin William (known as Jack), age 7. There would also have been uncles, cousins, other family and friends at the funeral.

Laura is buried among over 300 other souls in Resthaven Cemetery many of which were pioneers in the area, many of which were farmers. Many of the well-known family surnames include Landwehr, Franzen, Kleinschmidt, Graue, Hoppenstedt, Luehring, Luebking, Heinrich, Tonne, Stueve, Biermann, Schuette, and many more.

A few of the oldest pioneers include Christian Pfluger born 1828, Lambert Stueve born 181, Heinrich Gathman born 1819, and Dorothea Hoppenstedt born 1807.

Resthaven Cemetery was to provide Christian burials for the members of at least two Methodist congregations, the United Methodist Church and the Emmanuel First Evangelical Church

 Resthaven is the last remaining cemetery of three cemeteries that once were on O’Hare International Airport land. All three cemeteries were pioneer cemeteries for families that lived and farmed in the area.

 The legal address for the cemetery on land records remains 525 West Division St. but is currently called FedEx access road.     It is located in the E 1/2 NE 1/4 of section 13, Township 40  Range: 11 of Dupage County.

Resthaven is currently about 4 acres in size, originally opened in 1837 by a circuit rider named, J Boaz. Three years later in 1840 it was formally dedicated. There was one addition enlarging the cemetery in 1920 and a rededication in 1986.

You can see Laura Elfring’s monument in the center of the picture toward the back.

The cemetery is currently owned by the Resthaven Cemetery Association PO Box 28 in Wasco, IL 60183

Back in the day, the cemetery was located on the extreme eastern border of DuPage County on the east side of Division Street , which was then the north/ south boundary between Cook County and DuPage County. Just a bit further north was St. Johannes Church and cemetery. The church was physically moved west to York Road, and the cemetery was recently removed at great cost to allow airport expansion.

Today Resthaven Cemetery is still within and surrounded by O’Hare International Airport!

Resthaven cemetery can still be accessed (with some difficulty) from Irving Park Road by turning east onto S. Access Rd. and then making a left (north) on the FedEx access road (originally Division Street).

Resthaven Cemetery was to provide Christian burials for the members of at least two Methodist congregations, the United Methodist Church and the Emmanuel First Evangelical Church

 Resthaven is the one remaining cemetery of three cemeteries that once were on O’Hare International Airport land. Both St. Johannes and Wilmers have been removed. All three cemeteries were there well before the airport was even thought about and all three were pioneer cemeteries for families that lived and farmed in the area.

The cemetery was transcribed by the DuPage County Genealogical Society in 1988, and that transcription was at that time located in the Elmhurst Museum. In addition, Find A Grave has about 154 memorials to those buried.

More important, the late Ken Madsen compiled the amazing and comprehensive 390 page Addison Township Cemetery List which includes 313 Resthaven burials. There are 7 members of the Elfring family

Click to access Necrology%20Index%20Addison.pdf

Despite the location of Resthaven cemetery in the middle of O’Hare international Airport, it is hoped that it will be respected and maintained, remembering Laura Elfring as well as at least 300 others buried there.

Laura Theodora Katharine Elfring

August 18, 1885 – April 10, 1898

Ruhe in Frieden

Rest in peace