Tag Archives: cemetery

-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.

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.

-Kentucky, Black History, Cemeteries, National Register of Historic Places, Vernacular Headstones

African Cemetery Number 2 of Lexington, Kentucky

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African Cemetery No. 2 is the earliest recorded cemetery organized, owned, and managed by the Black citizens of Lexington, Kentucky. Purchased in 1869 by the Union Benevolent Society No. 2 and chartered in 1870, it served as a burial ground until 1976.

The cemetery’s notable residents include Oliver Lewis, the first Kentucky Derby winner, and Isaac Burns Murphy, a three-time Derby-winning jockey. It also contains graves of over 150 U.S. Colored Troops, including soldiers from the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Regiments.

After decades of neglect, the site was declared abandoned in 1973. Plans for development ended when surveys revealed over 5,000 burials. In 1979, Rev. Horace Henry Greene lead the restoration efforts of the cemetery and founded the non-profit to manage the cemetery. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

Keys was a noted groomer and worked for the Idlehour Stock Farm.
-Georgia, Cemeteries

Harmony Grove Cemetery-One of Buckhead’s Hidden Cemeteries

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Harmony Grove Cemetery is just located off W. Paces Ferry Road in Atlanta’s Buckhead. Dating back to 1870, the cemetery’s earliest burial was the infant son of James H. “Whispering” Smith, a prominent landowner whose estate was near today’s Governor’s Mansion. The last known burial was in 1982.

Buckhead Heritage’s rehabilitation of Harmony Grove Cemetery earned the 2009 Preservation Award for Excellence in Rehabilitation from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.

August Krause was a German immigrant known for his stone carving work. It is assumed he did the first two markers on this page for his wife and his son. His daughter Charlotte was the last known burial.

-Kentucky, Black History, Cemeteries, Vernacular Headstones

Greenwood Cemetery of Louisville, Kentucky

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Greenwood Cemetery was founded in 1903 in Louisville, Kentucky. It is a historic Black cemetery that fell into disrepair after neglectful owners stopped caring for it. In recent years, the local chapter of the National Association for Black Veterans (NABVETS) has volunteered its time to assist with upkeep. It’s estimated there are at least 800 veterans buried in the cemetery. 

The NABVETS are there almost every Saturday helping maintain and improve the cemetery grounds.

If you would like to follow along to see the progress on the cemetery, you can find more info on their two Facebook pages. This one seems a bit more active.