HISTORY 1854 TO 1890
1854 —
It can be reasonably assumed that institutional burials began as deaths occurred in the new poor house (1854). Other burials may have been made earlier because itinerant burials from the community and surrounding area were common. Later this burial ground served the county at large, receiving the dead brought by friends or local authorities from anywhere in the county. In fact in later years, institutional burials were in the minority compared to burials from Chicago.
1866 —
The Report of the Warden of the County Alms House or County Home for the period September 1, 1866 through December 1 1866 show forty deaths at the home, 30 of which were caused by cholera. Many, but not all can be presumed to be have been buried in the old grounds of Cook County Cemetery.
During this early period, the county buried the indigent of Chicago, enlisting the services of an undertaker. His bill, paid with county funds, would cover the preparation of the body, an inexpensive pine coffin, transportation to the cemetery, and the digging of the grave. One such funeral was that of Archibald Murphy, conducted by undertaker Charles E. Allen who submitted a bill to the County Board for payment. Other bills indicated that certain undertakers had an ongoing contract with the county to bury paupers. In 1866, J.M. Stuart submitted a bill for $ 484.50 to the county agent for 74 burials. In June 1868 he submitted a bill for $14.70. In December 1868 he submitted still another bill for 100 burials at $3.50 each.
Many if not most of these county burials were made in County ground at Dunning, although earlier burials paid by the county were made in City Cemetery in Chicago. It is not entirely clear when the County Ground began to be used as the official potter’s field for Cook County. We do know that in 1866, City Cemetery was reported as "practically vacated, but not all of the bodies had been removed." This fact infers that the county had already begun using the burying ground at the County Farm as a successor to the potters field section of City Cemetery.
1869 —
In 1869 George Klaner and J.M. Stuart both submit bills for county burials. It appears that separate bills were made to the County Agent to cover the cost of welfare burials and still other bills were presented to the Hospital Committee for burials made from Cook County Hospital. Bills grew larger as more county burials became necessary. The quarter ending September 20, 1869 show a bill for $ 551.25 presented to the county agent. In the absence of detailed burial records for this period, these undertaker bills give some estimate of the number of county burials.
The earliest description of the burying ground at the Cook County Poor Farm is mentioned some fifteen years after it’s inception.
It can be found the minutes of the September 15, 1869 county board meeting. The committee reported that "the burying ground at the County Farm is too close to the insane asylum, and we would respectfully recommend that the piece of ground on the Ridge about sixty rods west of the present site be selected and devoted to the purpose, and that the bodies be removed from the present site thereto as soon as circumstances permit."
THE CHICAGO FIRE BURIALS 1871
1871 —
The Great Chicago Fire in October 1871 caused as many as 300 deaths. Approx. 117 120 bodies were later brought out to the County burying ground for burial by the coroner. According to the Chicago Tribune, a morgue was temporarily set up in a livery stable at 64 Milwaukee Avenue on Monday morning, October 9th, 1871. In a book "The Great Chicago Fire" by Robert Cromie, 1958, it is stated that the morgue was set up on Tuesday Cromie reports 120 bodies recovered and official total death count between 200 300. According to the History of Cook County, the dead was stated as being about 150. According to Chicago and the Great Conflagration, 1872, by Elias Colbert and Everett Chamberlin deaths were estimated at near three hundred by Coroner Stephens and Dr. Benjamin C. Miller, county Physician. This last estimate does not include still born children.
Many of the bodies were disfigured so that sex cannot be determined. One or two bodies of the forty were "quite untouched" by fire having died from suffocation. Twelve arrived from Wesson Street alone. They are all ticketed by the coroner, showing precisely where found.
In another account, "no less than seventy charred bodies" were lying at the further end of the stable. Of the seventy it was said that only four were of human form, the others burned " out of all shape."
According to the Chicago Tribune, most bodies were found in the vicinity of Chicago Avenue (800 north) and the river. Cromie mentioned an additional location, that being the "narrow dead end streets near Wesson and Townsend, a little farther north. When the Chicago Avenue bridge (800 north) was closed, many turned toward Division (1200 north) on those streets and were trapped." He states that there were also deaths in the South Division.
A complete list of burials, as written by the coroner, can be found in the database
1872-1890
1872 — Beginning this year, statistical burial information for Cook County Cemetery becomes more readily available.
On August 12, 1872, the Lincoln Park Commissioners received permission from the County board to transfer the unclaimed bodies from the closed City Cemetery to Cook County Cemetery at Jefferson, (Jefferson Township). Some of the terms agreed upon were that thirty days notice must be given, published in both a German and English newspaper, and all costs were to be borne by the Lincoln Park Commissioners.
Here is the text of the adopted resolution by the Cook County Commissioners dated August 12 1872 2PM:
“Your Committee on Poor House and Paupers to whom was referred the application of the Commisioners of Lincoln Park for permission to remove the remains from the Potter’s Field in said park and to bury the same in the burying ground at the County Poor House, having had the same under advisement, beg leave to report the following resolution and recommend it’s adoption:
RESOLVED, That the Commissioners of Lincoln Park be and they herby authorized to remove the remains of persons buried in the Potter’s field (now a part of said park) and to reinter the same in ththe burring ground owned by the County, at the County House, in the town of Jefferson. Such re-interments shall be under the direction of the County Superintendent of Public Charities.
PROVIDED The County shall be at no expense for such removals and re-interments; and
PROVIDED FURTHER, That the said commissioners shall first give thirty days notice at their own expense, of such removal in one English and one German newspaper published in the City of Chicago.
All of which is respectfully submitted
J. HARRIS THOMAS LONERGAN JNO. HERTING Committee on Poor House and Paupers
Report concurred in and resolution adopted”
Statistics for the year 1872 show another 456 burials made in Cook County Cemetery, 109 alone from Cook County Hospital.
1874 — A vault was constructed in Cook County Cemetery for the purpose of storing bodies during severe winter months when the ground was frozen.
1882 —
In 1882 the 20 acre burying ground was enlarged by the addition of a strip of land measuring fifty by two hundred feet, north of the current morgue.
NOTE: There were several morgues over the years, so it is important to relate this information to the morgue in use at the time.
1885 — There were 996 burials in Cook County Cemetery in this year
1886 — Detailed expense logs for the morgue were found for this year. There was a full time salaried county undertaker, a coffin maker, and two morgue keepers. Other expenses included lumber, muslin, hardware, and varnish for the coffins, horse feed, shavings, and tolls on the Northwest Toll Road.
(Northwest Toll Road later became Milwaukee Avenue)
CEMETERY HISTORY 1890 – 1912
1890 — November 5, a plat map of the "New Grounds" section of the cemetery, a 5.739 acre site was surveyed and certified. This cemetery section measuring five hundred feet by five hundred feet is about 990 feet west of the 20 acre site. The capacity of this section is estimated between 7,500 10,000 burials and appears to having reached its capacity by about 1899.
1891 — A biological laboratory and autopsy house is constructed. It would have replaced an older structure on the grounds.
1897—Scandals erupted over bodies stolen from the morgue and cemetery. In one 1897 case, four bodies were taken as they were being prepared for burial. Henry Ullrich, a watchman who worked at Dunning, was convicted of selling the corpses to Dr. William Smith, a medical professor in Missouri. This was only one of a number of incidents circa 1897
1903 —
"The old cemetery behind the infirmary is an unsightly place."
Reference: Cook County Charity Reports, 1903
1911 — A new cemetery, called Oak Forest Cemetery (or Cook County Cemetery-Oak Forest) begins operation on that site for the burial of County paupers.
Burials after July 1912 are documented by death certificates showing "Chicago State Hospital Cemetery". A new grave numbering system began.
1912 – 22 — Documentation of burials in Cook County Cemetery at Dunning continue through 1922, the last year that microfilm records of Cook County death certificates are currently available at the Family History Library at Salt Lake.
1915 — was a bad year for County Cemetery – Old Grounds. Right in the center of the newest section of the old grounds, a nurses home was built. It is shown as Key #24 on the state map. It was 3 stories facing east and 136 x 188 capacity 150 employees It later became the Vocational Rehabilitation Center. Although there was no basement, a heavy foundation interfered with bodies buried here.
It would be hard to imagine that the State of Illinois did not know of the burials , as this was a prominet section of the cemetery. Whether they knew or not, there is no record of how or where they disposed to the bodies they encountered. The building occupied 25,568 square feet, just a bit over one half acre. This area alone could have accommodated as many as 1700 bodies.
They could have been moved to another location, such as the new grounds or the area known later as the sunken garden, or they may have just been disposed of. We have no further information at this time.
After 1922
We know burials continued beyond 1922. Vital records, specifically Death Certificates are currently available on microfilm only through 1922. About 1929 oral interviews reveal that neighborhood residents have recalled seeing small stone markers during this time period. The most common marker used in cemeteries of this type during this period were small concrete markers usually made on site by hospital employees.
Survey for Oak Park Avenue (6800 west) between Irving Park and Montrose taken July 26, 1934. The road is shown as 100 feet wide. The resulting plat of survey is filed as document #11544080 and is dated January 11, 1935. It can be found in plat book #312, pages 24 and 25. Despite the fact that the road travels over the cemetery, it was approved by the Board of Cook County Commissioners at their meeting on December 12, 1934.
The Superintendent of Highways approved the highway plat for Oak Park Avenue on August 29, 1934
When Oak Park avenue (6800 West) was put through, bodies in the "New Grounds" were reported to having been found.
1935 — The Horner building was constructed (1935-1937) over the original burying grounds. A State of Illinois newsletter reports that workers went home sick as they encountered human remains during excavation. This event is very important in understanding the cemetery, as this construction might have been one of the prime factors in destroying some but not all of original grounds. There is no mention of bodies being mover else ware.
1940 – 1990
Mid 1940's — Oral histories of people who remember the grounds tell of World War II Victory gardens in and around the gravestones
1959 — An electrician running cables among buildings in the center of the property (old cemetery ground) recall digging up bones and wood caskets. Reference: June 28, 1989 Lerner Paper TIMES
1965 — Chicago Read Mental Health Center was opened on the West side of Oak Park Avenue. Curiously, the design of the building is not symmetrical. What might have been the south end of the building was never built. It would have interfered with the 5.73 acre New Grounds. Instead they made that area into a parking lot, over the cemetery.
Durso Building, on the east side of Oak Park Avenue was constructed. A large modern morgue was built on the first floor. Bodies were discovered in the ground during construction.
1970's – 80's — Henry Horner Children’s Center 4201 N Oak Park Avenue 120 beds replaced the Sunken Gardens. Patients in that facility were often found to have skulls and bones in their possession.
For cemetery history beginning with the rediscovery in 1989, see that section of the website