-Illinois, Cemeteries, Historic Photos, Symbolism

A Memorial to a Circus Train Accident in Forest Park, Illinois

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On June 22, 1918, one of the worst train accidents in United States history happened near Hammond, Indiana. While it was the worst circus accident in US history, it was only the third worst US train accident in 1918. Early in the morning, an empty troop train (a military train used to carry personnel and supplies) crashed into the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train, that had stopped to address mechanical issues. The troop train’s conductor had fallen asleep and missed signals to stop. The accident killed 85 people and injured over 100 more.

Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Just five years earlier, the fraternal order Showmen’s League of America was formed in Chicago for outdoor showmen. They purchased a large 750 lot section in Woodlawn Cemetery. It was here where the mass funeral of the circus performers and staff were held. According to The Indianapolis News (June 25, 1918), 57 people were buried in the cemetery. Unfortunately, many people were not identified. The circus held a large funeral, and the unidentified bodies were placed in a mass grave. For those who could be identified, they were placed in individual graves.

Image from The Chicago Tribune

The section is still being utilized today. If you ever decide to visit, the section is at the front of the cemetery. The section is flanked by four elephants with downturned trunks, which represents mourning.

-Illinois, Cemeteries, Famous People

Al Capone’s Grave: The Gravesite that Launched Find a Grave

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If you’re in Chicago and love cemeteries, it’s obligatory to visit Mount Carmel Cemetery. There’s the Italian Bride and the famous spinning marker (posts coming later on those), but it’s most famous resident is Al Capone.

Capone became a mob boss by the age of 26, went to prison by 33, and died right after he turned 48. Upon his death in Florida, his body was transported back to Chicago to be buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery. By 1952, he was moved to Mount Carmel Cemetery after his mother passed. He is in a family plot.

For those who spend a lot of time on FindAGrave, you know that the site was started because the creator, Jim Tipton, visited Al Capone’s grave and realized that others might be excited to see his grave. The site began in 1996. In a 2000 article in USA Today, he shares, ‘People come and pour their hearts out because they’re writing (about) their dead mother or father. I feel oddly voyeuristic, but a lot of people have written me saying it gives a sense of closure.’ At the time the article was published, the site had 2.5 million graves. Today, there over 265 million memorials listed.

-Illinois, Houses

Cicero, Illinois Lustron

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This 1949 M02 Desert Tan Lustron still stands in the Chicago suburb of Cicero. It appears relatively unchanged from the front. At some point, an addition was added to the back, but it is unclear how the back of the house was altered.

-Georgia, Houses

The Gresham Duckett House-Hollingsworth, Georgia

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Built in 1876, the Gresham Duckett house is a Folk Victorian located in Banks County on Old US 441. The gables contain interesting details that resemble sun rays. Better views of them are shown below.

The images below are from the 2008 survey featured on GNAHRGIS.

-Illinois, Houses

The Childhood Home of Pope Leo XIV in Dolton, Illinois

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As Robert Prevost, Pope Leo VIV lived here with his parents, Mildred and Louis, and his two brothers. The Prevost family purchased the three-bedroom new in 1949. Pope Leo was born in 1955 and lived here until he was fourteen. He went away and started seminary high school in 1969. The family stayed here until the 1990s.

After he was named the new pope, the town of Dolton purchased the home in 2025 and plan to preserve it. .

Black History, Cemeteries, Illinois

The Grave of Emmett Louis Till in Burr Oak Cemetery (Alsip, Illinois)

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Emmett Louis Till (1941–1955) was a 14-year-old African American boy who was abducted and murdered in Mississippi after being accused of flirting with Carolyn Bryant, a white store owner’s wife. His lynching became a national story when his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, insisted on an open-casket funeral so the world could witness the brutal violence inflicted on her son.

For a more detailed account, Wikipedia provides a good summary.

He was buried in Burr Oak Cemetery on Chicago’s South Side. When a friend and I visited the cemetery the day after a rainstorm, the grounds were waterlogged and poorly drained. We were unable to approach his grave without wading through several inches of standing water. It is unfortunate that the cemetery contends with this issue, as my friend and I visited several other cemeteries that day, none of which had significant standing water.