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!”
Category: Special Features
A Liquor License in a Cemetery?
5213-15 North 40th Street, (renamed to Crawford and now Pulaski.
Jefferson Township records show a yearly saloon license issued to Bohemian Cemetery and Wenzel Scheiner.
After burying the dearly departed, family and friends often gathered for the day at Scheiner’s Beer Hall and Road House next to cemetery greenhouses.
They crossed the footbridge over the river to Scheiner’s Picnic grove adjacent to the Bohemian National Cemetery. The large facility was described at variously times to include a horse stable, bar or saloon, inn, restaurant, picnic grounds small pond, and a dance pavilion. Census records refer to Scheiner’s as an inn and road house with lodgers. Continue reading “A Liquor License in a Cemetery?”
Funeral Streetcars
Funeral streetcars were found in major cities including Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, Los Angeles, and others. The Metropolitan Chicago transit system built two streetcars in 1910 built specifically for funeral service, each having drapes on the windows and a special compartment for the casket. Continue reading “Funeral Streetcars”
Funeral trains serving the Cemeteries
The funeral procession made a statement about status. As years went by, the method of transportation to the cemetery changed, but it usually reflected the status of the deceased. One method before the motorized hearse became common by both the rich and ordinary families, the funeral operating on rails.
