Cemeteries | Rosehill | Calvary | Graceland | Oak Woods
INTRO
The Rosehill Cemetery was chartered February 11, 1859. The land was 500 acres lying 6-1/2 miles north of the City of Chicago. The cemetery was dedicated by the laying of the corner-stone of the chapel with Masonic ceremonies on 28 July 1859. The first interment was the remains of Dr. J. W. Ludlam on 14 July 1859.
Rosehill’s castellated entrance was designed by William Boyington who also designed the Chicago Water Tower. The name of the cemetery was supposedly taken from a tavern keeper named “Roe” and the area was referred to as “Roe’s Hill”. This story has remained unproven and is considered an urban myth. Rosehill has the most burial placements of Union Civil War soldiers in the Midwest. Rosehill Cemetery is located at 3800 Ravenswood Avenue.
Chicago Tribune, July 29, 1859
Yesterday was an occasion long to be remembered in the annals of our city, as happily a new, noble, and long-needed enterprise. The question that has long been agitated and discussed seems answered, and finally. The voice of our city having united as the voice of one man in remonstrance against further interments within the fast springing residences that are filling our northern suburbs, and the evil, the positive danger of continuing to bury our dead thus among the homes of the living, the events of yesterday place on record how well the appeal has been met.
We believe a few years will constitute Rose Hill one of the most attractive and beautiful of Cemeteries, and see springing among its oak groves the monuments of taste and of remembrance of the departed, who are year by year to bind the city to this by ties and associations continually gaining in power and strength.
Rose Hill is in the town of Chittenden, six miles and a half north of this city, on the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, the present station being directly opposite the Cemetery, the enclosure of which lies to the westward of the track. It is reached, also, by two good roads—one along the lake shore, the other the prairie road following up the North Branch to the west ward of the ridge.
The prairie on which our city stands lies smooth and level as a threshing floor for miles about us, and to the northward the first change of soil and surface is where, within the palings of Rose Hill, the rich black loom of level meadow or wet prairie, changes abruptly into a light dry yellow soil, overlying a gravel ridge, which in its greatest altitude is from seventeen to twenty feet above the adjacent prairie on the south and east. Thus is it especially fitted for the purpose to which it is now consecrated. This ridge is crowned by a fine grove of oaks. It extends northward and westward giving a total capacity of area of some four hundred acres or more should it ever be desired to extend the Cemetery to such limits.
From History of Chicago, by Andreas, 1884
The Rosehill Cemetery Company was chartered February 11, 1859, the incorporators being William B. Ogden, Charles G. Hammond, John H. Kinzie, Hiram A. Tucker, Levi D. Boone, Benjamin W. Raymond, Charles V. Dyer, James H. Reese, John Evans, Jonathan Burr, Levi B. Taft, E. K. Rogers, Robert H. Morford, Andrew T. Sherman, William Turner, George Schneider, C. H. Diehl, Andrew Nelson, James V. Z. Blaney, Henry Smith, Philo Judson. E. C. Jansen
and Francis H. Benson. Dr. Blaney was the first president of the association. The land bought for the cemetery was five hundred acres lying six and a half miles north of the city. Improvements were at once begun. The cemetery was dedicated by the laying of the corner-stone of the chapel with Masonic ceremonies July 28, 1859, M. W. I. A. W. Buck, Grand Master, officiating. The first interment was of the remains of Dr. J. W. Ludlam, July 11, 1859.
Rosehill has a magnificent entrance arch, a capacious receiving vault, and a spacious chapel. A steady flow of clear water is obtained from an artesian well; a number of artificial lakes have been formed; there are large and handsome greenhouses and conservatories; the avenues, drives and walks are constructed to be durable and permanent; and the grounds are well tended. About two hundred and fifty acres of the grounds are thus improved, and the interments up to date number nearly 30,000. By an amendment to the charter, the company is required to pay ten per cent, of all proceeds to a perpetual care fund, which now amounts to about $35,000. The trustees of this fund
are Charles B. Farwell, Orrington Lunt and Henry F. Lewis. The present officers of the company are Frederick Tuttle, president; William H. Turner, vicepresident and auditor; Van H. Higgins, treasurer; and Joseph Gow, secretary and superintendent.
Rose Hill
1862
Notable Burials
James Aldrich, U.S. Congressman, Illinois 1st Congressional District (1893–1897)
William Aldrich, U.S. Congressman, Illinois 1st Congressional District (1877–1883)
George Bell, Jr., United States Army Major General who commanded the 33rd Infantry Division in World War I
John Lourie Beveridge, Illinois Governor (1873–1877)
Lester L. Bond, Chicago Mayor (August–December 1873)
Levi Boone, Chicago Mayor (1855–1856), anti-immigrant American Party (a.k.a. The Know-Nothing Party)
William W. Boyington, Architect, Chicago Water Tower and Rosehill Cemetery entrance
Jack Brickhouse, Hall of Fame sports broadcaster
Austin Brooks, Editor, Quincy Herald (1853-1867)
Avery Brundage, Athlete, construction contractor, president of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and International Olympic Committee (IOC)
Henry Buker, Baseball shortstop. right fielder 1884 Detroit Wolverines
Jacob Burck, Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist and artist for St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Chicago Sun-Times
Leo Burnett, advertising executive, founder of Leo Burnett Worldwide
Edward Dean Cooke, U.S. Congressman, Illinois 6th Congressional District (1895–1897)
Joseph Cummings, President of Wesleyan University (1857–1875), president of Northwestern University (1881–1890)
Albert Blake Dick, Founder of A.B. Dick Company, coined the word “mimeograph”
Jim Dooley, Chicago Bears football player, coach
Harvey Doolittle Colvin, Chicago Mayor (1873–1875)
Dewitt Clinton Cregier, Chicago Mayor (1889–1891)
George R. Davis, U.S. Congressman, Illinois (1879–1885), Director General, World’s Columbian Exposition
Charles G. Dawes, 30th Vice President of the United States
Martin Emerich, Maryland House of Delegates, U.S. Congressman, Illinois 1st Congressional District (1903–1905)
Charles Benjamin Farwell, U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator from Illinois
Milton S. Florsheim, founder of Florsheim Shoe Company
Mimi Forsythe, a\Actress Three Russian Girls, The Bridge Of San Luis Rey
Bobby Franks, Murder victim of Leopold and Loeb
Lyman J. Gage, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1897–1902), banker, president of the World’s Columbian Exposition
Augustus Garrett, Chicago Mayor (1843–1844, 1845–1846)
Samuel Robert Gibson, folk singer Gibson and Camp at the Gate of Horn
Solomon Harry Goldberg, founder Hump Hairpin Manufacturing Company, patented hairpin made with ridges
Harry Grabiner, Major League Baseball executive, first general manager of Chicago White Sox
Elisha Gray, inventor, founder Western Electric
Dwight H. Green, Governor of Illinois (1941–1949)
Charles Frederick Gunther confectionery manufacturing magnate, created Cracker Jack
John Charles Haines, Chicago Mayor (1858–1860)
Winifred M. Hausam, One of the most creative educators in Southern California and credited with organizing many vocational and counseling bureaus
John D. Hertz, founder Yellow Cab, Hertz Rent-A-Car; Re-interred at Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York
Otis Hinckley, Co-founder Hinckley & Schmitt
Ida Sophia Hippach, R.M.S. Titanic survivor
Jerome Holtzman, Baseball Hall of Fame sportswriter, known as “The Dean” of baseball press boxes
Nat Hudson, Major League Baseball pitcher (1886–1889) for the St. Louis Browns.
Charles J. Hull, Real estate magnate, Hull House owner
Edgar Allan Jonas, U.S. Congressman Illinois 12th Congressional District (1949–1955)
Edward Jump, artist, Cartoonist
Andrew Thomas Kearney, founder of management consulting firm A.T. Kearney
John H. Kedzie, lawyer, Real-estate developer, politician (namesake: Kedzie Avenue in Chicago and Kedzie Street, Evanston)
Harry Stephen Keeler, Pulp mystery writer, The Case Of The Barking Clock, The Man With The Magic Eardrums
James Scott Kemper, Founder of Lumberman’s Mutual Casualty Company, predecessor of Kemper Corporation
Edward N. Kirk, Union Army brigadier general, U.S. Civil War
Philip Knopf, U.S. Congressman Illinois 7th Congressional District (1903–1909)
Leonidas Lee, Major League Baseball player, 1877
William Lill, Chicago Brewer
Benjamin F. Lindheimer, Chicago horse racing and football executive
Sidney Lovell, architect of Rosehill Mausoleum
Alexander Loyd, Chicago Mayor (1840–1841)
Benjamin Drake Magruder, Illinois Supreme Court Justice
George W. Maher, architect, Prairie School-style
Robert Marsh, victim in the Herrin Massacre (unmarked grave)
Roswell B. Mason, Chicago Mayor (1869–1871), mayor during Great Chicago Fire
Victor Andre Matteson, Architect Cardinal Hill Reservoir
Oscar F. Mayer, business magnate, founder Oscar Mayer Company
John McArthur Union general, U.S. Civil War
Edward McWade, Actor Arsenic and Old Lace, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mr. and Mrs. North; spouse of Margaret
Margaret McWade, Actress Pixilated Sisters, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town; wife of Edward
Robert McWade, theater, film actor Grand Hotel, The Lemon Drop Kid; brother of Edward
Darius Miller, railroad president
Isaac Lawrence Milliken, Chicago Mayor (1854–1855)
Buckner Stith Morris, Chicago Mayor (1838–1839)
Richard B. Ogilvie, Governor of Illinois (1969–1973)
Martha O’Driscoll, actress: Li’l Abner, Ghost Catchers, House of Dracula, The Daltons Ride Again, Under Western Skies
George Arthur Paddock, U.S. Congressman Illinois 10th District (1941–1943)
Legrand Winfield Perce, U.S. Congressman (1870–1873)
Eliza Emily Chappell Porter, first school teacher in Chicago (1835), established schools for African American children in the south
Thomas E. G. Ransom, brevet major general in the US Civil War, division commander in the Thirteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps, died 1864[8]
Henry Riggs Rathbone, U.S. Congressman, Illinois Congressman At-Large (1923–1928)
Ira G. Rawn, railroad president
John Blake Rice, Chicago Mayor (1865–1869)
Bruce Roberts, television pioneer, longtime WBBM-TV weekend sportscaster
John A. Roche, Chicago Mayor (1887–1889)
Julius Rosenwald, merchant, early partner with Richard Sears, founder the Museum of Science and Industry in Jackson Park.
Morris Sachs, Entrepreneur, Morris B. Sachs Amateur Hour radio program
George Joseph Schmitt, co-founder of Hinckley & Schmitt bottled water
Reinhart Schwimmer, Gangster, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre victim
Ignaz Schwinn, Founder of the Schwinn Bicycle Company
Richard Warren Sears, founder of Sears, Roebuck and Company
John G. Shedd, Chairman of Marshall Field & Company, philanthropist, founder of the Shedd Aquarium
Milton Sills, Actor “The Heart Bandit”, “The Hawk’s Nest”, “The Sea Wolf”
Edwin Silverman, Co-founder of Essaness Theatres
Byron Laflin Smith, Founder Northern Trust Company
William Grant Stratton, Illinois Governor (1953–1961)
Charles Wheeler Sweet, Sr., professional tennis player (1905-1971)
George Bell Swift, Chicago Mayor (1893, 1895–97)
Charles Marsh Thomson, U.S. Congressman Illinois 10th District (1913–1915)
Narcissa Niblack Thorne, designer of the Thorne miniature rooms, Art Institute of Chicago
Burr Tillstrom, Puppeteer, creator of Kukla, Fran and Ollie
Belle Kellogg Towne, Hymn composer, author and editor for the David C. Cook Publishing Company, buried with husband, T. Martin Towne, well-known composer
Daniel Brink Towner, Hymn composer Trust and Obey, Grace Greater than our Sin, Saved by the Blood of the Crucified One
Robert Twyman, U.S. Congressman Illinois 9th District (1947–1949)
Leonard W. Volk, Sculptor, notable for making one of only two life masks of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln
E. S. Wadsworth, Co-founder Wadsworth, Dyer & Chapin, namesake Wadsworth, Illinois
Martin R. M. Wallace, Union brevet brigadier general, U.S. Civil War
Aaron Montgomery Ward, Founder Montgomery Ward and Company, the world’s first mail order business
John Wentworth (nicknamed “Long John”), U.S. Congressman, mayor of Chicago, marked by the tallest obelisk in the cemetery
George Elon White, U.S. Congressman Illinois’s 5th District (1895–1899)
Julius White brigadier general Union Army, U.S. Civil War
Frances Willard, Temperance leader, suffragist, President of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union
Ned Williamson, Major League Baseball player, 1878–1890
Arnold zu Windisch-Graetz, Pastor Concordia Lutheran Church of Chicago, prince Royal House of Windisch-Graetz
Henry Haven Windsor, Founder, publisher of Popular Mechanics magazine
Charles Walhart Woodman, U.S. Congressman Illinois 4th District (1895–1897)
Rose Hill Cemetery
Rand McNally
1897
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