USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Chicago, the Garden city. Its magnificent parks, boulevards and cemeteries. Together with other descriptive views and sketches > Part 10
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The chief aim in the new part of Rosehill is to come as near to nature as possible in all arrangements and appointments and thereby to produce true landscape effects. This is done without leaving nature entirely to itself, for every one knows what then would become of the wild dame-unrestrained nature soon becomes unnatural. Considerable skill is displayed in the plant- ing of trees and shrubs, giving the cemetery at the same time a cheerful yet solemn appearance. Unfortunately here too the harmony is endangered by the bad tastes of some individual lot-owners, who have begun to disfigure the place by numerous grave-stones and monuments of a similarity in the pat- terns, that in most cases they differ from each other only in the names of the inscriptions. It is astonishing that the "manufacturers" of grave-monuments content themselves with the everlasting sameness of their productions and cannot summon enough energy and ambition to create something original in their line at least once in a while. Original grave-monuments are indeed the most scarce products of our times. It is as if the obelisks filling the ceme- teries everywhere had as so many colossal weeds propagated and promul- gated indestructible seed, which had shot up all around. If those inclined to weigh down the graves of their departed by heavy stones and perpetuate- for a time at least-their own names by costly monuments over their tombs, would only entrust the work to real artists, the appearance of our cemeteries would greatly profit and the simple symmetrical beauty of well shaped grave-mounds would no longer be drowned in the flood of unsuitable trash now marring the simplicity, the solemnity and the natural grandeur of these places.
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The general character of the western portion of Rosehill cemetery, with its lawn system and natural beauty, shows that the Superintendent of this necropolis, Mr. George H. Scott, knows how to combine effectually the pleas- ing in the general aspect with the required solemnity of the place, so that comfort is conveyed and yet serious contemplation is awakened. He uses nature and art to excellent purpose. It was in this portion of the cemetery where recently a monument was erected to the murdered millionaire A. J. Snell, an obelisk of course, hewn out of blue Barry Granite, about 50 feet high and costing $12,000.
Of the other monuments in which Rosehill abounds, we will mention only a few of the most costly and largest. The granite obelisk not long since erected to the memory of "Long" John Wentworth, towers considerably above all the others, as Mr. Wentworth himself was during his life time, "a head taller then all the people." The stone shaft including the foundations rises to a height of 65 ft. and is made of Hallowell granite. As we learn from Mr. Chadband, the Assistant Superintendent of the grounds, the Wentworth obelisk has cost $38,000, exclusive of $10,000 expended for and on the lot, on which are planted fifty trees. Nearly $50,000 for a burial lot and a stone monument - not a cent for benevolent purposes! Not by far the most desirable memorial.
The monument to the Volunteer Fire Brigade is a high marble column, crowned by a single figure, representing a fireman on the look-out. Above the foundation which shows representations from the life of firemen on duty upon its four sides, a fire-hose hewn out of marble is wound around the pillar. The corners of the pedestal represent hydrants and the circular patch of lawn in the midst of which the monument stands and which is surrounded by a low stone wall, is adorned with a number of allegorical figures and with flowers.
Not far from this spot is the Soldiers' Monument, a high obelisk, on which stands the stonecarved figure of a soldier of the late civil war. The bas-reliefs on the sides of the pedestal represent the four military divisions : Cavalry, Artillery, Infantry, and the Navy. In front is the inscription: "Our Heroes." On the lawn spreading from the monument is a circle, the Coat of Arms of the United States appears in the bright and living colors of flowers. This monument is opposite the entrance, and east of it on the other side of the carriage road we behold the monument of "Battery A." This consists of a cannon hewn out of stone, covered by the Starry Flag, alongside of it is a pyramid of cannon balls of stone. At the foot appear the names of the fallen members of the battery and those of the battles in which the latter have taken a part. Opposite to this, on the south-east corner of the intersect- ing carriage roads, we have the stone monument of "Battery B," representing a mortar upon a stone foundation.
Directly east of these Veteran Monuments are two large square plats of lawn, in which 230 Union soldiers are buried. The graves beneath, in which these "defenders of the country" are sleeping, form long straight rows and are marked by low head-stones, upon which are found the names of those resting beneath and of their regiments and companies. Upon not a few however this information is missing and in its place we read only the words: U. S. Soldier. They belong to the large army of the unknown. Not far from the eastern border of these soldier-graves, towards the castle-like gate, towers the obelisk of Gen. Thomas E. G. Ransom.
The monuments thus far mentioned are the most expensive and some of them may lay claim to artistic execution, but others would also call forth admiration, if they were found in a cemetery furnishing resting places to less wealthy people.
As the lot holders in Rosehill Cemetery had become fearful that the cemetery may, after the lots therein shall have been sold, come to be neglected and left without care ; therefore, to prevent the possibility of such results, the Rosehill Cemetery Company proposed and adopted the following amendments to its charter:
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Rosehill,-Hon. John Wentworth's Monument.
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SEC. 1. "Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, that there shall be set apart and kept, to be reserved and expended as hereinafter provided, the sum of ten per centum, or one- tenth part of all the proceeds hereafter to be received from the sale of lots by the Rosehill Cemetery Company, incorporated by that name by an Act approved February 11, 1859, until the sum so reserved and set apart shall amount to one hundred thousand dollars.
SEC. 2. That the aforesaid sum of one hundred thousand dollars shall be kept and preserved as a fund, for all time to come, for the preserving, main- taining and ornamenting the grounds, lots, walks, shrubbery, memorials, boundaries, structures, and all other things in and about said cemetery and belonging to said corporation, so that the purpose and intention thereof shall be carried out, and so that said grounds shall be and continue as cemetery grounds forever.
SEC. 3. That the said corporation, by its proper officers, shall pay over the said ten per cent. of all sales of lots, from time to time, and as often as they shall be thereunto required, to three Trustees, who are hereby constituted the "Board of Trustees of the Rosehill Cemetery," who shall be owners of lots in said Rosehill Cemetery, and who shall be appointed as hereafter provided, who shall keep the said fund in their possession until a sufficient amount has accumulated to purchase such one of the securities hereinafter provided, as shall be deemed best by the said Trustees, and as often as there shall be sufficient accumulation for the purpose, as above provided. The said Trustees shall invest the said fund in the bonds or securities of the City of Chicago, the bonds or securities of the County of Cook, the bonds or securities of the State of Illinois, or the bonds or securities of the United States, as they shall deem best; or if no such bonds can be had, then in other State securities of the highest value, looking to their safety and the amount of interest to be received therefrom. The said bonds or securities so purchased, shall be at once deposited in the custody of the Mayor and Comptroller of the City of Chicago, as a special deposit-the said bonds having been first plainly en- dorsed as belonging to the safety fund of the Rosehill Cemetery. The said fund, when so invested, shall be kept and held for the uses and purposes specified in the second section of this Act and no other."
Before we leave Rosehill it is only proper to state that the manage- ment of this cemetery pays much attention to the floral embellishment of the grounds, keeping a palmhouse and several hothouses. This gate, too, is remarkable for its characteristic beauty. In this building are found tool- houses in one wing and in the other the office and a spacious and well equipped chapel.
The board of managers consists of Hon. Henry W. Blodgett, H. F. Lewis, Hon. Van H. Higgins, Hon. J. B. Bradwell, and Wm. H. Turner. The officers of the company are: Wm. H. Turner, Vice-President and Auditor, Hon. Van H. Higgins, Treasurer, and Eugene C. Long, Secretary. George Scott is the civil engineer and landscape architect, Walter Chadband the lot salesman, and Thos. Wallis manager of the green-house department.
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CALVARY CEMETERY.
The improved taste of late years in the choice of sites for cemeteries and the methods adopted for their embellishment, together with the wide-felt pub- lic interest in them, and the laws which guard them from desecration, are cer- tainly very aptly illustrated in Calvary. Here the fact is fully established, that a well-appointed cemetery exerts a reflex influence upon the public taste. Here a large part of the ground is laid out according to the principles of mod- ern landscape art, trees and shrubs are plentiful and they especially have some natural fitness or have become associated with the spot by the usages of the past. Add to all of this the improvements made from year to year, slopes of green velvety lawn, beautiful shade trees and other plants and costly mon- nments of various designs.
In this cemetery people can learn by personal inspection how beautiful nature is, both in her own simplicity, and when her charms are heightened by the touch of art. And dont say, that such visits answer no purpose save to gratify an idle curiosity! They suggest new ideas; they awaken purer tastes; they show how the simplest piece of ground may be embellished by a little skill and labor; how even the stern repulsiveness of the grave can be chastened; and they send him back to his usual sphere of life determined to adorn his own home, and to beautify the spot where he expects ere long to lay his ashes too.
The fact is significant then and it is honorable to the character of our peo- ple, that we are not wholly engrossed in the worship of mammon, neglectful of the amenities and tender charities of life.
There are few who would not, if they could choose, choose such a peace ful place, as Calvary Cemetery, where the great companionship of dead gives a sense of fellowship, sad but not painful. There is no jarring noise of life; no hustle recalling the pain and travail of existence; not even the murmur of the lake close by. or the low breathing of the distant city; its roar being soft- ened here to a whisper.
In Calvary Cemetery we feel that we are face to face in a solemn spot with the old enemy-we are fronting the old, dreadful and incontrovertible fact. The same in all other countries and with every race; we are here in the very presence-chamber of King Dead.
Of course, here too, as is the case in nearly all of our cemeteries, private property in the shape of costly monuments is made more conspicuous than the sentiment of neighborly fellowship or human brotherhood. It is of course proper for every man to express his own taste and judgment, and indeed, speak his own individuality, in the structure and surroundings of his own tomb and that of his family. Father Abraham took the lead in thus doing and his children have followed him with considerable variety of adaptation, as well as marked reverence for his preference for the rock sepulchre over the Greek and Roman urn burial.
It is important for every family to put its own history upon its memorial stone, with as much impression of personal feeling as sober second thought favors and as distinct and just a record as will keep the family name alive for coming generations. But here in this cemetery the aim is also noticeable, to express love for the deceased in such a way that it speaks to every true heart -lifts private sorrow into universal fellowship. Some of the simplest expres- sions on some of the marble slabs or upright memorials do this, with their solemn prefix: "In Peace" and the name of the dead, and perhaps with a rude figure of the Good Shepard with a lamb in his arm.
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Entrance to Calvary.
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Quite a significance is given to this garden of the dead through its long register of heroes, who have given their lives for their country. These sol- diers' monuments, among them the one of the gallant and brave Col. Mulligan, are neither too warlike nor fierce in their inscriptions and symbols. They ex- press the fact, that all true heroism approaches the great sacrifice, and should nur- ture the brave charity that calls all citizens to live under the same liberty and law, and invites all souls into the same divine brotherhood.
The successful attempt has been made in Calvary, to combine as much serious unity of purpose as possible with the variety of the grounds, woods and water, as well as to guard against the too frequent mechanical monotony of enclosures and monuments by favoring all judicious variety of vegetation, landscape and stonework.
It is well to encourage the people in calling attention to the great beauties of their cemeteries and to impress them with their need of a still higher order of memorial art. We believe in nature and the human mind and in our right and duty to know and love all that is good and true and beautiful; this faith we may declare in metal and in marble, in granite, flowers, trees and shrubs upon our graves.
·Calvary, as it is at present, forms a picture well worthy of a place in our memory and thoughts. The natural dignity of the landscape, enhanced by the graces of architecture and sculpture. leaves an impression not easily ef- faced.
Among the chief beauties of Calvary are the great number of forest-trees, evergreens being intermingled with deciduous trees, which together show a harmonizing of the mixture in summer, and in winter the evergreens are light- ened and set off by the contrast of the shade-trees bereaved of their foliage, for even the leafless branches of trees and shrubs afford an available element of color.
Of the avenues the one leading from the entrance gate through the cem- etery, where it diverges and branches out, is laid out in good taste and pos- sesses great natural charms. All the drives and walks are kept serupulously clean and the shortcomings in this respect noticed in former years have been supplanted by care and painstaking.
But as pointed out before, the skill and taste of the sculptor and architect have been exerted in a remarkable manner in the construction of elaborate monuments and mausoleums, and while greenhouse-flowers and plants embel- lish numerous graves, the lawns beneath the leafy canopy of elins and ash and maple are, during the warm season, sprinkled with a host of simple and modest flowers of the meadow and forest. These and the fragrant flowers ar- ranged by the florist or planted by lot-owners on the little hillocks are the silent but expressive teachers of morality.
All in all this cemetery has undergone such a vast change in the last few years, that it reflects honor upon the sensibility and taste of the management. Nature has done a great deal for this judiciously located burial ground and art has not been backward in contributing to its embellishment. It is impos- sible to visit this vast sanctuary of the dead without feeling a solemn yet sweet and soothing emotion steal over the senses, as we wander over these hal- lowed grounds interspersed so abundantly with luxuriant flowering shrubs and fragrant herbs, that seem to defy the most profane hand to pluck them.
Among the new improvements made during the last few years the new greenhouses built are not only the most prominent, but they also fill a long- felt want. They were erected on the west line of the cemetery, north of the imposing entrance gate and are spacious and well adapted to their use. The building consists of a propagating house, 150 feet long and 19 feet wide, another house of equal dimensions serving also for the cultivation of flowers and plants and a show-house, smaller in size, but filled with beautiful species of palms, rubber plants, cactuses, banana-trees, ferns, etc. At the southern ex- tremety of the plant-house, a commodious waiting room for ladies is provided with which is connected the office of the florist, Mr. M. N. Angelsberg, an adept in floriculture and floral decoration. The two greenhouses contain all the most desirable and beautiful bedding-plants, such as bigonias, geraniums,
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heliotrop, pinks, pansies, fuchsias, echeverias and countless numbers of other plants, such as are generally used for carpet bedding.
The rose too is cultivated here, because no other flower forms such a beau- tiful emblem of affection and tenderness. This shrub was early used for grave-yard ornament by the Greeks and Romans, who frequently made it their dying request that roses should be yearly planted and strewed upon their graves. They conceived that this custom had a power over the dead. Anac- reon declares that it
"Preserves the cold inhumed clay, And marks the vestige of decay."
How delightful to behold filial affection thus employed in decorating and beautifying the spot where the ashes of a tender parent, a beloved child, sister or brother repose! How pleasing to think, that even here we shall not be forgotten-that our memory will be cherished by those who once loved us, and that the spot where we rest will be sometimes bedewed by the tears of sorrowing love, and decorated by the hand of tenderness-that flowers will fringe the pathways leading to our lowly resting-place.
Among the memorials placed on family-lots there are quite a number that can justly lay claim to high artistic value and refined taste. Besides the mon- ument erected by friends and admirers of the gallant soldier Col. Mulligan, those of Wm. M. Devine, Thomas Lynch, Chas. J. O'Neill, John D. Tully, John Cudahy, Philip H. Murphy, Mrs. John Hogan, John McAvoy, W. B. Snow, David Thornton, etc, are very conspicuous for their elegance. Then there is the handsome and costly family vault erected by Richard M. Hooley, and the P. J. Sexton mausoleum also makes a very fine appearance. Of great artistic value is the monumental sarcophagus for J. A. Wolford and wife, a masterpiece indeed of the sculptors' art.
Not less than 120,000 bodies have been laid to rest in this "Yard of Peace" from the day its grounds were consecrated up to the present time, It is truly a cosmopolitan burying ground, for with the exception of the Chinese perhaps all nationalities are represented here by some one of their own people having been permitted to enter these fields after reaching the end of life's journey. Even an Indian Chief-"Little Thunderer"-is sleeping beneath the green sod of Calvary,
Before Mount Olivet, the Catholic cemetery situated southwest of the city, on the Grand Trunk railway, was established, the daily average of interments at Calvary had reached 15, since then it has been reduced to 14.
The cemetery is located south of and adjoining the village of South Evan- ston, ten miles north from the City Hall. It is the largest and oldest of the Roman Catholic cemeteries of this city and is fronting Sheridan Drive and Lake Michigan. It is the favorite burying-place of the Irish Catholic Church- es and was consecrated in 1859, although prior to this some of the bodies taken from the consecrated ground in the old Chicago Cemetery were re-interred here. The cemetery is a large one, containing 110 acres, which were purchased in the year 1856, by Bishop O'Regan from John Devlin and Jolin O'Leary. Trains of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway (Milwaukee Division), and of the Evanston Division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad stop in front of the handsome gate leading to Calvary.
The money derived from the sale of lots and single graves is turned over to the Archbishop who, as head of the Catholic Churches of this city, manages this fund in the interest of Calvary and Mount Olivet Cemeteries, where from time to time costly improvements become necessary. A large part of this money is kept in reserve for the purchase of additional territory for cemetery purposes, for it is only a question of time and a comparatively short one too, when Calvary will be completely filled with bodies and new fickls will have to be opened somewhere in the vicinity of the city for those, who during com- ing years will throw off the "'mortal coil" and go on their last journey: to the grave.
The city office of Calvary Cemetery is on the second floor of the Reaper Block, on the northwest corner of Clark and Washington streets. Mr. Thomas Brenan, favorably known to most of our citizens as a gentlemen of unques-
Soldier's Monument in Rosehill.
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tioned honesty and integrity, who has served the public faithfully for a great. many years in various high public offices of honor and trust, is the General Superintendent of Calvary and Mt. Olivet, and as such he acts as the financial and trusted agent of the Archbishop. His able assistants are D. P. Kinsella, who has charge of the cemetery management at Calvary, John Baynes, who serves in a like capacity at Mt. Olivet, and Joseph Mclaughlin, Mr. Brenan's valuable adjunct at the main office.
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ST. BONIFACE.
The first cemetery we encounter on our return from Rosehill (along the Greenbay Road or Clark Street ) is St. Boniface, which, together with St. Mary's, situated southwest of the city, and the Orphan Asylum at Rosehill, is managed by a board of directors composed of members of the following parishes: St. Michael's, St. Joseph's, St. Peter's, St. Antonius, St. Franciscus, St. Boniface, St Paul's, St. Augustine, St. Alphons, St. Aloysius, St. Martin's, St. Peter and Paul's, St. George's, the Holy Trinity, St. Mary's, St. Henry's and St. Mathias.
The cemetery has an area of 36 acres, of which ten acres are not yet divided into burial lots. In the new, eastern part of the cemetery, the spirit of progress has plainly manifested itself, as the lots laid out there are arranged in accordance with the park system in vogue now in most burial-grounds. Thereby the difference between the older portion in the eastern half of the grounds and this new part becomes very pronounced and at once noticeable and there is nothing but praise among the owners of lots in the western portion concerning the arrangements, the dispensing with fences or stone-enclosures around flower-covered mounds. But in view of the fact, that the old part with its regular squares and low stone-enclosures, is kept in excellent order and receives the best of care on the part of the lot owners and the manage- ment, there is not much to be said against this part either, for the rigid straight lines are largely lost sight of through the tasteful floral ornaments or other emblems of mourning produced by nature or the handiwork of man.
This cemetery, upon which many, very many, of our best-known and highly respected German citizens have been laid to rest in their graves, was laid out in 1863 and consecrated the same year. On the 19th of October it received its first silent inhabitant in the person of Marie Jung, a nine-days old infant. To-day there are resting in the cool earth of St. Boniface, 26, 200 bodies, to which are added on an average five each day.
From the stately portal, adjoining which are the offices of the Superin- tendent and Secretary L. Biehl, a beautiful wide avenue flanked by stately trees leads straight through the cemetery past the vault; beyond that it term- inates in several winding driveways, in harmony with the park-like nature of that part of the grounds.
St. Boniface cemetery differs from most other burial grounds, the public, as well as the church cemeteries, in so far, that the surplus of the annual receipts are expended for benevolent purposes, especially for maintaining the orphanage at Rosehill, while the often large profits of the other cemeteries, with hardly an exception, find their way into the pockets of single individuals or the coffers of corporations.
Take for instance the year before last, in which there were buried in St. Boni- face about 1,400 people and the total income amounted to $14,410.90. Of this sum $8,511.72 were expended upon the cemetery, including $1,500 the direct- ory paid towards the Soldiers-Monument of the Catholic Veteran Association, leaving a surplus of $5,899.18.
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