82 
THE MODERN CEMETERY. 
Cemeteries of Chicago. 
The larger and more popular cemeteries of Chi- 
cago are too well known to the readers of the MOD- 
ERN Cemetery to need any special mention in an 
article like the following. There are, however, a 
large numberof smaller or more recently established 
burial places near the Garden city which are well 
worthy of the attention of every lover of the beauti- 
ful in nature and the excellent in landscape art. It 
is of some of these that we propose to write, as im- 
partially as possible, with a view to describing the 
chief characteristics of some of the less widely 
known cities of the dead, wherein sleep so many 
thousands of the former residents of the great west- 
ern metropolis. 
Calvary is the largest and oldest of the Roman 
Catholic cemeteries adjacent to Chicago and is by 
far the most populous city of the dead in the West. 
It contains iio acres, and not less than 120,000 
bodies have been interred within its limits since its 
construction in 1859. Previous to 1885 the daily 
average of interments at Calvary had reached 15. In 
that year a new cemetery, Mt. Olivet, was opened 
south of the city, since which time the interments 
at Calvary have been reduced to an average of 14 a 
day. 
Calvary Cemetery is located south of and ad- 
joining the village of South Ivvanston, ten miles 
north from the city hall. It fronts Sheridan Drive 
and Lake Michigan, and is reached by the North- 
western and the Milwaukee & St. Paul railroads 
and by the new electric road. The location is an 
ideal one. The great number of forest trees of 
every variety, evergreens being mingled with de- 
ciduous trees, form a grand contrast to the wide- 
spreading marine view' afforded by the lake. This 
combination of wood and water is the chief natural 
charm of Cavalry, in which too often the intruding 
presence of unsightly railings and cumbrous monu- 
ments has detracted from the real beauty of the 
grounds. 
To the west and south of Calvary, and just south 
of Rosehill, lies another but smaller Catholic ceme- 
tery named St. Boniface. This cemetery, which 
has an area of 36 acres, was consecrated in 1863, 
and now contains over 26,000 interments. In the 
new portion of St. Boniface the park system has 
been adopted, and there is such a marked contrast 
between the new and old portions of this cemetery 
that it affords an excellent opportunity to study the 
advantages of the modern style of cemetery garden- 
ing, as compared with the old. 
Just south of Graceland is Wunder’s Cemetery, 
a burial ground that was consecrated early in the 
fifties. Here evidences of neglect are sadly notice- 
able, and many of the graves are said to have been 
used repeatedly. Not so in the little Jewish ceme- 
tery of five acres adjoining on the south. Here the 
grounds are in charge of a faithful attendant, 
strange to say of the Christian faith, who keeps the 
paths and graves in scrupulous care. Another 
Jew'ish cemetery has recently been opened in Jef- 
ferson near the village of Dunning. 
The west division of the city of Chicago is des- 
tined always to contain probably not less than two- 
thirds of the population of the entire city, and it 
would be surprising indeed if the w^estern suburbs 
should not develop some remarkably large and 
beautiful cities of the dead. Three cemeteries of 
considerable importance now repose on the banks 
of the Des Plaines river about nine miles west from 
the city hall. They are Forest Home, Waldheim 
and Concordia. 
The first of these. Forest Home, comprises 
nearly 100 acres of land and is, both by nature and 
art, one of the most beautiful cemeteries in Chica- 
go. Here the lawn system was adopted from the 
beginning and the uniform park— like appearance of 
the grounds so much admired by all visitors is a 
silent but powerful testimony of the excellent re- 
sults to be obtained by this system. No copings or 
other means of marking the boundaries of lots are 
allowed, except corner stones and these are restrict- 
ed in height, thus making it easy to keep the lawns 
uniform. The same system has been followed, 
though not so rigidly, in Waldheim, a German cem- 
etery of 80 acres, just north of Forest Home. This 
is the favorite burial ground of the German societies, 
and is carefully kept by them as well as by the in- 
dividual lot-owners. The burial lot of the anarch- 
ists, 1,500 feet square, is a feature of this cemetery. 
Concordia Cemetery is the burial ground of the 
German lAitherans, and comprises 60 acres on the 
banks of the Des Plaines river at its intersection 
with Madison street. This cemetery was dedicated 
in 1872, and the number of interments now reaches 
16,000. It was not until 1884, however, that strict 
rules were adopted against enclosures around lots 
and other obstructions which were then seen to be 
disfiguring the grounds. Since that time the beauty 
of the cemetery has been materially enhanced. 
Eight small Jewish cemeteries are located on 
both sides of the road leading from Forest Home to 
Riverside. They are the cemeteries of the “Aus- 
trian-Hungarian Benevolent Society;” “ Aushe 
Suwalk, Chicago;” “Chewre Aushe Ernes;” “Moses 
Montefiore;” “Ohavo Amuno;” “ Buai Abraham;” 
“Improved Order of Eree Sons,” and “Eree Sons of 
Israel.” The cemetery of the last-named order, 5 
acres in extent, is the largest of these, and is open 
not only to the members of the order but also to 
the poor outside of the organization. 
