Today I discovered a great hint of another burial site, possibly my 274th. After 25 plus years of research, this one is new, and leaves one with more questions than answers. I will share what I know.
Continue reading “UPTOWN THEATRE, PLANK ROADS, & AN EFFIGY MOUND”
Join me on a virtual tour of Chicago’s Northside cemetery corridor. It will help you to understand the growth of burial places along Clark Street, a north-south street and one of the oldest roads in the city. It runs parallel to and not far from the shore of Lake Michigan, extending north into Evanston Illinois where it becomes Chicago Avenue.
Continue reading “Ten Cemeteries and Wrigley Field”
Cemeteries command little respect when the “powers that be” want to build or expand an airport. Our departed ancestors are simply “in the way” when we focus on aeronautical progress. 
The classic and most recent case was the destruction of St. Johannes Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery on the west end of O’Hare International Airport, until a few years ago, at the foot of runway 9-R. There, some 1,400 people and five acres of cemetery of the St. John United Church of Christ in Bensenville, were dug up to expand the “the world’s busiest airport.” Another nearby cemetery, Resthaven, clings to existence.
But this story is about a third, least known cemetery over there by runway 32-R, on the far eastern edge of the airport. It was the first to be removed in the name of progress. Lets look at Wilmer’s Old Settler Cemetery also known as the cemetery for the Evangelical Zions Society of Leyden Township. Continue reading “The third and least known cemetery in O’Hare Airport”
One of the most unusual buildings in a Chicago area cemetery is one that consists of just an elevator. It is a beautiful structure with stained glass windows and could easily be thought of as a small chapel. The questions most often asked are where and why. Continue reading “An Elevator in a Cemetery!”
Chicago and Cook County Cemeteries 