USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Chicago, the Garden city. Its magnificent parks, boulevards and cemeteries. Together with other descriptive views and sketches > Part 11
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This cemetery is rich in costly monuments, an indication that many of those who ended their life's pilgrimage here, have left their families in very com- fortable circumstances. The majority of the older monuments are of marble, but those erected more recently are made of lasting granite, which can better resist the elements, than marble and softer stone.
The Soldiers momment, unveiled and consecrated on Decoration Day a few years ago, is a great ornament to the cemetery. The other monuments
LOUISEHESIRE
St. Boniface .- Monument of Mrs. Louise Hesing.
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deserving special mention are those of Joseph Haunschild, Marie New, Anton Schillo, John C. Roeder, Chr. Brick, Amelia C. Boyle, John Temple, Michael Sieben, Chas. Dominick Miville, John Zender, Anton Detmer, F. Scholer, Nicolas and Leo P. Leiendecker, Mich. Diversy, Henry Wischemeyer, John Herting, J. Schoenewald, A. Hagemann, A. Baier, John B. Busch, A. Zulfer, Anton Cremer, Bernard Müller, Catharine Hechinger, J. Arnold, Albert Wag- ner, the Pfeifer family, Marie Sledek, Peter Wagner, Felix Blatter, M. Coss mann, F. Mayer, Louise Hesing, etc.
Of these the last named monument in the south-eastern portion of the cem- etery ranks first in the choice of the subject as well as in the artistic execution of the same. Certainly in no other are the characteristic virtues of the deceased expressed so well symbolically and perpetuated as in this granite statue of St. Elizabeth, erected to the memory of Mrs. Louise Hesing. It was indeed a happy thought to decorate the grave of this noble woman, who knew no greater joy than to do good and make happy the oppressed and needy, with an almost life-like representation of the saint, whom we are wont to look upon as the ideal of the purest charity,
The statue measures 7 feet 6 inches in height and represents the pious landgravine of Thuringia, distributing bread to the poor with her outstretched right hand. In the folds of her dress, which she holds with her left, are seen the roses, into which the victuals she was carrying to the poor of the City of Eisenach, changed at the moment when her husband, the landgrave Ludwig, forced open the basket in which she carried her charitable gifts from the castle. The model for this statue was executed by Mr. F. Engelsmann, a talented young German artist, and the statue itself, measuring with the base 9 feet 6 inches, was made at the steam granite works of Burkhardt and Son, No. 138 Kingsbury Street, Chicago. The monument is cut out of light-gray Westerley, (R. I. ) granite, which, owing to its hardness and other desirable properties, is espec- ially adapted to monuments. Upon the front of the base above the simple inscription: Louise Hesing, is seen a bronze-medallion of the deceased, also the work of Mr. Engelsmann.
The special merit of the statue lies in the mild and loving expression of the face, in which are plainly reflected nobility of soul and kindness of heart. It is scarcely necessary to say, that the figure bears also in every other part the mark of high artistic ability. The grave of Mrs. Hesing is covered with a thick mass of blooming evergreen.
The lot of Marie New is ornamented with figures representing a mother and child, whilst the monument of Christian Brick is in the shape of a Christ- chapel. Upon the foundation supporting the monument on the grave of Amelia C. Boyle a female figure is represented resting upon a cross, symbolizing mourning. The monument of John Zender consists of a pyramid of rocks upon which stands Jesus with the Cross. Very expressive is the monument on the grave of F. Scholer. It represents a block of stone with cross and anchor, which latter is fastened with a rope eut out of the rock to the ( stone ) trunk of a tree rising in the middle. The tall marble monument of John Her- ting is erowned by the life-size figure of St. Boniface. Many other monuments could be mentioned if the space would permit, but it may here be mentioned, that besides the statue of St. Elizabeth Mr. Burkhardt has made many monu- ments for St. Boniface and other cemeteries, which are notable for their origin- ality and artistic value and are not copies of models too frequently copied.
Among others furnished by him, the Wacker monument at Graceland is especially conspicuous.
We may conclude this article with the translation of two lines we have found upon a grave-stone in the old portion of St. Boniface:
" Thee. also, death will call away, Thou, too, wilt in thy grave decay."
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WUNDER'S CHURCH-YARD. JEWISH CEMETERIES.
The greatest difficulties managers of burial places meet with, are en- countered by German churches, who have established their own cemeteries. In the German mind the resting-places of the dead are inseparately connected with their religious life and church associations. Their cemeteries are conse- crated spots, "church-yards," "fields of peace," "God's acres." They do not like to be buried outside of these, and therefore all German congregations aim to have their own burying ground. But they generally consist of working people, who hardly ever have much beyond their needs. It is therefore not an easy thing for them to accumulate enough wealth, wherewith to purchase a piece of ground sufficiently large to receive their dead during generations, and it is equally difficult for them to keep it in order, as that requires a constant outlay of money; neither can they ask for their lots any such sums as are paid in the larger cemeteries. The consequences are, that the graves have to be used over and over again and have to be largely left to themselves or to the care of the relatives of the interred.
Though the congregations who bury their dead in Wunder's cemetery are doing their very best to overcome these difficulties, the aforementioned evils are nevertheless sadly noticeable. There are portions of it, however, which are well kept and are in every way in keeping with the solemnity of the place. A decided step towards a thorough improvement of the cemetery is a recent reso- lution of the management, not to permit any more interments in single graves, but only in family lots. That, if anything, will insure a better state of things.
The cemetery is situated but a few feet south of Graceland and was con- secrated in the beginning of the fifties. How many were buried there in the course or the last forty years, cannot be determined, owing to the repeated use of the same graves. The family lots are chietly found in the front part of this German necropolis and as a rule show loving care. Upon many of them are seen fine monuments, some of which have artistic value. A very pleasing feature are the inscriptions upon these monuments, tomb-stones and even the plain wood crosses adorning the graves of the poorer of those sleeping there, which are mainly of a religious character. Some also tell a sad story, as the inscription on the obelisk just opposite the gate does, which runs in German: "Wanderer, stand still! Here rests in God a true husband and father, who had to lose his life in his calling as fireman," and in English: "John Streming, killed at a fire on South Water Street, June 8th, 1865, while on Duty."
On the more beautiful of the monuments the following names are inscribed: Charlotte Becker, John Janke, Family Fiedler, William Hallermann, C. Spren- gel, A. Drechsler, Ludwig Sommer, Friedrich Hoermann, Albert T. Haeberle, Amanda Hallermann, Conrad Oberg, F. Schramm, Heinrich Junker, Dora Lasman, Henry Schultz. Win, Rohn, L. Hildenbeutel, John G. Dohl, and others.
Just on the other side of the fence, south of Wunder's Church Yard, is a Jewish cemetery, which presents a very pleasing appearance. . Everything there is kept in the best of order. The signs above the gate show that several congregations bury their dead in these grounds. One sign reads: Chebra Gemilothe Chassadim Ubikor Cholim, and another: "Hebrew Benevolent Society," besides these also the "Bnai Sholem " congregation buries its dead in this place.
Į Rangelhal m, Redeemer hverh, Wie
PARILLA W ALLERTON
KALLERTONES
A. N. MARQUIS & CO.
Graceland,
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The cemetery contains five acres of land. The family lots as well as most of the single graves are not only well-kept, but show tender care. The roads and paths also are well cared for by the attendant, a Swede named P. N. Nei- glick, and he being a gardener, the place everywhere shows his skill and good taste. Mr. Neiglick is of the Christian faith, but attends to his duties in the Jewish burial place with as much reverence as a Jew could do. He receives no regular salary for his services, but contents himself with his income from the sale of flowers and plants for decorating purposes and from the care of graves.
In this cemetery about 2000 people are buried, of whom not a few were laid to rest here at the expense of Societies. There is no lack of handsome monuments. The inscriptions on some of them testify to the tendency on the part of many Jewish people to anglicise and corrupt their honest and generally very pretty German names, in such a degree that they hardly can be recog- nized in their new English dress.
Among the monuments which deserve to be specially mentioned there are those of: Morris Rosenfeld, Herman Seaman, Isaac Goldstein, Isaac Waitzel, Moses Ruhl, M. M. Spiegel. H. L. Marks, Henry Abrahams, Marcus Jampolis. David Adams, Heiman Solomon, Jacob Pieser, P. Goldstein, Shrimski, Samuel Goldmann, etc.
The cemetery was opened in the summer of 1854 and the body of Ida Kohn, who was buried there on August 6th of that year, was the first one laid to rest there.
Further south on Clark Street, at the southwest corner of Belmont Ave- nue, formerly was situated the cemetery of the Anshe Mayrive congregation. The same contained about four acres, and was laid out in 1856. But the con- gregation recently had another cemetery surveyed, of which it now has taken possession. It is located in Jefferson in the neighborhood of the Cook County Poor House, and contains 20 acres, five times the territory of the old one. The remains of those buried in the old grounds together with a number of the monuments have all been transferred to the new cemetery, The number of
bodies that had been interred in the old grounds was 985. Here too, formerly a number of monuments were standing, which cost a great deal of money and at the same time furnishes further proof of the corruption of names. On one appeared the name of Falk Austrian, whilst along side of it stood an older tomb-stone for which the good German name of Oesterreicher had evidently been still considered good enough; the inscription there read: "Malla, wife of Abraham Oesterreicher."
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OAKWOODS CEMETERY.
This beautiful cemetery stands in the front rank. as one of the handsomest of Chicago's burial grounds. It is located south of 67th St. between Cottage Grove Ave. and the I. C. R. R. track. The distance from the business centre is about seven miles. It is reached by the "Hyde Park" cable trains, and by the I. C. and Pittsburgh & Ft. Wayne R. R's. It is also easily accessible by several convenient carriage drives. There are numerous dwellings in the in- mediate vicinity of this cemetery, nevertheless, Oakwoods is protected from future interference, and guaranteed absolute permanency by a special charter of the legislature.
In drawing the plan for the grounds, the Association was fortunate in securing the services of the late Mr. Adolph Strauch, Superintendent of Spring Grove Cemetery, at Cincinnati, who as a landscape gardener and Superintend- ent of cemeteries, probably had no equal. Before work was commenced in 1864, he visited and made a thorough examination of the land, and assured the Association that it was well adapted for the purpose it was designed for. Then, with a detailed survey, showing the surface elevation, he drafted the plan now presented to the public, designating the lowest land for artificial lakes, and the higher to be made still higher, and formed into beautiful mounds with the earth taken from the lakes.
The avenues are laid out in gentle curves and on an established grade. Perfect drainage of the surveyed portion is secured by judicious grading. The land is of a gravelly, sandy nature, the kind best suited for sepulture, and is covered by a good soil of considerable depth, ensuring a vigorous growth of grass, trees, shrubbery and flowers.
Like other cemeteries that can lay claim to landscape beauties, Oakwoods is devoid of fences and enclosures that often surround burial lots; it is arranged on the lawn system, by which the natural charm of the scenery is sustained. It is ornamented and kept like a park, at the same time being invested with all the sacredness and solemnity befitting a burial place for the dead.
Oakwoods comprises a territory of 184 acres, of which a little less than half is now in use. The first burial took place on May 20th, 1865. It is now the silent abode of the mortal remains of nearly 20,000 former inhabitants of this city. The cemetery company has recently erected a fine building at an expenditure of $10,000. It contains the office, store-room, etc. Also a magni- ficent entrance, consisting of a number of highly-polished granite shafts, ar- ranged in the most presentable manner, forming a new departure in the archi- tecture of cemetery gateways. The design for this really handsome gateway and entrance was furnished by Mr. Marcus A. Farwell, the popular President of the Association, and it does him great credit.
The charming residence of director II. H. Sheppard is situated near the main entrance. Close to this are the large green-houses, of which there are not less than ten; the dimensions of each being 100 ft. long and 20 ft. wide. They are under the supervision of the skilful head gardener, Alexander Reed. All varieties of rare flowers are cultivated here, and used in the ornamentation of the graves, and for other purposes. The company derives a handsome rov- enne from the sale of flowers and plants alone. A separate office is used, and a force of clerks employed, to supply the demands of patrons.
The water-works are near to this, which supply about 5 miles of water pipes. The water works system is entirely independent of any outside ap- pliance. There are five artificial lakes of considerable size, the banks of which are sloping lawns to the waters edge.
In Oakwoods there are many costly monuments and mausoleums, and a spacious vault connected with a chapel building. The vault has a capacity for holding 500 bodies, and is built in the latest and most approved style.
Gateway to Oakwoods Cemetery.
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Upon entering, the first conspicous monument that meets the eye is that of Conrad Seipp, a granite obelisk with urn attached. The following is a par- tial list of the more costly monuments, to be found in this cemetery. Those of Win. H. Newman, Jos. E. C. Zeller, Wm. II. Harper, Mead Mason, John N. Gage, Van Bokclien, Lena Robinson, S. M. T. Turner, Israel Holmes, Sam. R. Noe, Alphonso Goodrich, Wm. S. Hancock, F. K. Dunn, Frank Drake, Cyrus E. Cole, Harry W. Phillips, Gabriel Steiger, L. G. Gall, Henry Hoyt, Dan'l Goodman, Henry A. Spence, Frank Van Houtin, David Burcky, Nellie W. Ullmann, Giesbert Pottgieser, F. Kublank, Louise Lehrkamp, F. Sorgenfrei, George Kress, August Keller, J. Werkmeister, E. T. Wadlow, C. Gieliske, C. F. Kauffert, August Geilfuss, A. J. W. Jahncke, Emma W. Jacob, Paul Kleiner, Wm. Hickling, Paul Cornell, Chas. Stein, Ben Carver, Burton C. Cook, Christian Schmidt, Chas. Tessmann, Peter Abt, Henry Apple, Henry G. Oehmich, John H. McAvoy, Robert Cunningham, Angus, James Campbell, H. H. Cooley, Williams, W. H. Schimpfermann, H. Guth, B. Artz, Conrad Stuckart and Catharine Friesleben. The monument of Cale Cramer, who lost his life July 27, 1887, in a collision near York, Ind., consists of a shattered locomotive of stone. The soldiers' monument was erected by one of the directors of the Chicago Soldiers' Home. The statue represents a private soldier with his rifle, and is finished in stone; the pedestal consists of marble. In the foreground there are four cannons guarding the graves of about 70 veterans.
The remains of over 5,000 Confederate soldiers, who died at Camp Doug- las, (a war-prison, situated on Cottage Grove Avenue during the late war), are interred here in a thicket of elms. The local society of confederate soldiers, have in contemplation the erection of a suitable monument to the memory of their departed comrades. Jeff. Davis himself, in his lifetime, evinced great interest in the erection of this memorial. Oakwoods contains also two small Jewish cemeteries of the congregations of Beth Hamedrash, and Ohoveh She- mil, respectively one acre and one half acre in dimensions.
That this cemetery can never be diverted from its present use and purpose is fully guaranteed in the following section of the charter: "And no road, street, alley or thoroughfare shall be laid out or opened through their said grounds, or any part thereof, without the consent of the directors; nor shall any corporation now existing, or hereafter created, be authorized to take, hold or possess any portion of said cemetery by condemnation, without such con- sent." Oakwoods is one of the very few cemeteries in Cook County that is organized under a special charter granted by the Legislature, which protects it from interference, and guarantees its absolute permanency. No cemetery or- ganized since the adoption of the present State Constitution, which took effect in 1870, has or can obtain a special charter. £ Under the present laws all new cemeteries are liable to be ruined by common roads, streets and railroads being forced through them. They have no protection like those organized under the old special charters. This cemetery has every security that the State of Illi- nois, through its Legislature, can confer. Oakwoods Cemetery is indeed a rural cemetery, and the Original Rural Cemetery of Chicago, ornamented and kept like a highly cultivated park, while at the same time it is invested with all the sacredness pertaining to a burial place for the dead. The Association makes the improvements, grades the lots, excavates the lakes, and plants orna- mental trees. The prices of lots vary from fifty cents to one dollar per square foot, according to location. The price at present for a single grave for an adult is ten dollars; for children, six to eight dollars.
The funeral trains by the Illinois Central Railroad leaving the city at 2 and 3 p. M. go to the cemetery gate. The Pittsburgh & Fort Wayne Railroad suburban trains also stop at Cottage Grove Avenue, near the south-west corner of the grounds. There are good carriage roads from the City through Washing- ton Park and Cottage Grove Avenue; also by 63rd, South Park Avenue and 67th Street.
The officers of the company are: Marcus A. Farwell, President; James McKindley, Vice President; W. C. D. Grannis, Treasurer; George M. Bogue, Secretary, and J. H. Shepard, Superintendent.
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ST. MARIA. - MT. GREENWOOD.
Of the four cemeteries situated beyond the southwestern limits of the City: St. Maria, Mt. Greenwood, Mt. Olivet and Mt. Hope, the first named lies nearest to the City and is the one where the funeral trains of the Grand Trunk Railroad coming from the city make their first stop.
ST. MARIA CEMETERY
is a German Catholic burying ground, which was consecrated on May 13, 1888, by Archbishop Feehan in the presence of a large concourse of people. Its northern boundary line is formed by Eighty-seventh street; the cemetery con- tains one hundred and two acres of ground, which lie on the western slope of Washington heights at an elevation of fifty-five feet above the level of Lake Michigan and of from sixteen to twenty feet above the level of the surround- ing prairie-land.
The German Catholics of the South and Southwest Sides have long felt the need of a burying ground somewhere near the southern limits of Chicago, where those of their people, who died in the Catholic faith, could find a final resting place, but not until the year 1887 had nearly passed was there an earnest effort made in this direction. Then it was that through the generosity of Heinrich Wischemeyer and his wife Maria, the Association which has also con- trol and the management of St. Boniface, the German Catholic cemetery on the North Side, was presented with sixty acres of the land which now forms St. Maria Cemetery, under the condition that the profits derived from the sale of lots and single graves be turned over to the Orphan Asylum at Rosehill, which together with the two cemeteries is managed by a directory, chosen from the different German Catholic congregations of Chicago. After the sixty acres donated by Mr. and Mrs. Wischemeyer had been laid out and embel- lished, forty-two acres more of adjoining land was purchased at a very low figure.
Opposite the entrance gate on Eighty-seventh Street the management has erected a pretty depot-builling in Swiss cottage-style. When the grounds passed into the possession of the association, the entire area showed neither tree nor shrub; to-day more than four thousand shade trees of healthy growth are planted along the winding drives and foot-paths and scattered in pictur- esque groups all over the place, which at no distant day will equal any of the older cemeteries in point of landscape and general arrangement. The modern lawn-system has found favor here from the start and when the drives were mapped out, they were so arranged as to form a connecting system of carriage roads throughout the grounds. The different links of this chain of driveways have been given names such as: St. Anthony, St. Henry. St. Peter, St. Fran- cis, St. Paul, St. George, St. Augustin, St. Martin, St. Ferdinand, St. Aloy- sius Avenue. At a central point where all the roads converge, a monument It is hewn
has been erected to the memory of Mr. and Mrs. Wischemeyer, out of marble and is the gift of the Cemetery Association, who desired to ex- press, in this manner its gratitude for the liberal donation of land by the hon- ored couple. Not far from this monument, the receiving vault, a massive and spacious structure, arrests the attention of the visitor. It has room for four hundred coffins and is covered by a blue slate roof, beneath which two circular colored glass-windows ndmit the light of day to the interior. From here St. John's Avenue leads to the highest point of the cemetery, where we also find the dwelling of the sexton, who from his abode can overlook the entire terri- tory under his immediate control.
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Rosehill .- Monument to the Volunteer Fire Brigade.
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At the suggestion of Rev. Peter Fischer, of St. Anthony's Church, who was the first president of the board of management, a novelty has been intro- duced in this cemetery, the like of which probably will not be met with in any other Catholic Cemetery. One of the choicest portions of the grounds, section A, has been set aside for the burial of families of mixed religion, so that the protestant wife of a catholic husband laid to rest here can be interred after her death by the side of her spouse and vice-versa.
Besides the Wischemeyer Memorial, there are several more very hand- some monuments in this "God's Field," of which may be mentioned those of Michael Reidi of Englewood. Anton Tennie, Angust Bauer. Johann Ferber, Isabella Vaesgen (of Blue Island), John Wessendorf (Washington Heights), Theresa Gottsellig, Peter Thomas, etc. In wandering over that sacred ground and gazing upon the monuments soaring high in panegyric of the wealthy dead and upon the humble tombstones of those less favored when pilgrims of this world, now made equal though by the impartial hand of Death, we feel the belief grow within us, that there are sermons indeed which we may gather from Stones, and we also are fully' convinced from what we see here, there and everywhere, that this German "Friedhof" will at some day near at hand, be not only one of the most interesting, but also one of the largest German Cath- olic cemeteries of this country.
MOUNT GREENWOOD CEMETERY.
This well known and beautiful cemetery is found three and a half miles south of St. Maria's on the Grand Trunk Railroad. It was opened to the pub- lie in 1879, and is situated upon the crest of Washington Heights and in the midst of a rolling country well covered with timber trees. Mt. Greenwood occupies the highest point of the chain of hills, which here rise to an elevation of seventy feet above the level of Lake Michigan. It contains eighty acres of land, of which no more than eighteen or twenty are used for purposes of sep- ulture. Here too the lawn-system is in full operation and was adopted in the beginning, so that Mt. Greenwood comes under the head of Park Cemeteries. The winding, serpentine drives are mostly macadamized and kept in excellent repair. The first body was buried here April 28, 1880, and since then more than three thousand people, who had ended life's pilgrimage, were interred under the mighty oaks that stand sentinel within the inclosures of Mt. Green- wood. Much importance is placed here on the propagation of plants for or- namenting graves and lawns and the lovely and tasteful beds of flowers that in summer meet the eye everywhere, give sufficient evidence of the earnest aim of the management, to make this Burial Park another point of interest for friends and strangers, for in point of decoration it will take rank with many ornate parks and gardens.
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