Evergreen Cemetery, in

Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city and the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the town of Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area. Bloomingto ...

, is also known as Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. The cemetery was originally two separate cemeteries, adjacent to each other. The first was the Bloomington Cemetery, founded in 1850 by the Bloomington Cemetery Association; the other was Evergreen Cemetery, founded in 1860. The Bloomington Cemetery was funded by city tax dollars, while Evergreen was privately funded and maintained. The website of the current cemetery claims Evergreen was founded in the early 1820s. Over the years, Evergreen suffered from vandalism and deterioration. Community action in the 1950s and 1960s forced the city of Bloomington to buy out the owners of Evergreen Cemetery in 1963, creating the merged Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. The grounds of Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, which are maintained by staff and community members, include a Civil War burial section. The McLean County Museum offers tours of the cemetery the last Saturday & Sunday of September and the first Saturday & Sunday of October. The Evergreen Cemetery Discovery Walk combines historical research by Museum volunteers, costumed actors from Illinois Voices Theatre, and Evergreen Memorial Cemetery into a week-long outdoor theatrical production. People who contributed to central Illinois’ colorful history are brought to life through costumed actors assuming the intriguing characters of McLean County’s ancestors. Presented is not only the "who's who" of McLean County but also the regular day-to-day voices from the past, people who have contributed to the growth, diversity and success of McLean County in unique and innovative ways.

Notable persons interred

* David Davis —

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States An associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is any member of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the chief justice of the United States. The number of associate justices is eight, as set by the Judiciary Act of ...

and

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

* Ulysses F. Doubleday — U. S. Representative *

Jesse Fell Jesse Fell was an early political leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He was one of the first Pennsylvanians to successfully burn anthracite on an open air grate. Anthracite differs from wood in that it needs a draft from the bottom, and Judge ...

— founder of

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

Louis Fitzhenry Louis FitzHenry (June 13, 1870 – November 18, 1935) was a United States representative from Illinois, a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and a United States district judge of the United S ...

— U. S. Representative * Benjamin F. Funk — U. S. Representative * Isaac Funk —

Illinois State Senator The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the I ...

* Dorothy Louise Gage — niece of L. Frank Baum's wife,

Maud Gage Baum Maud Gage Baum (March 27, 1861 – March 6, 1953) was the wife of American Children's literature, children's publisher L. Frank Baum. Her mother was the suffragette, suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage. In her early life, she attended a boys' high schoo ...

, and basis for

Dorothy Gale Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and reappears in most of it ...

in his book ''

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz afte ...

'' *

Asahel Gridley Asahel Gridley (April 21, 1810 – January 25, 1881) was an American politician, lawyer, merchant, and banker. Born in New York, Gridley moved to Bloomington, Illinois, when he was twenty-one. He served as a brigadier general in the Black Hawk Wa ...

—

John McNulta John McNulta (November 9, 1837 – February 22, 1900) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois. Biography Born in New York City, McNulta pursued an academic course and visited the West Indies and Europe. He moved to Attica, Indiana, in 1853 and ...

— U. S. Representative *

William W. Orme Brigadier General William Ward Orme was born in Washington, D.C. in 1832. He moved to Bloomington, Illinois, in McLean County, prior to 1860 where he practiced law in the law firm of Swett & Orme. His partner was Leonard Swett. While practicing ...

—

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

General * Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn —

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

player, member of the

National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

* James Harvey Robinson (1863–1936) — Historian, scholar, educator * John M. Scott — Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court of Illinois The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the State of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five ...

Julia Green Scott Julia Green Scott (February 14, 1839 – April 29, 1923) was an American socialite, philanthropist, businesswoman, and landowner who served as the President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution from 1909 to 1913. She was one of the ...

— President of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

Giles Alexander Smith Giles Alexander Smith (September 29, 1829 – November 8, 1876), was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Biography Smith was born in Jefferson County, New York. When he was 18, he moved to southwestern Ohio, and for a d ...

—

General *

Adlai Stevenson I Adlai Ewing Stevenson (October 23, 1835 – June 14, 1914) was an American politician who served as the 23rd vice president of the United States from 1893 to 1897. He had served as a U.S. Representative from Illinois in the late 1870s and ...

—

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice p ...

Adlai Stevenson II Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (; February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965) was an American politician and diplomat who was twice the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. He was the grandson of Adlai Stevenson I, the 23rd vice president o ...

—

United States Ambassador to the United Nations The United States ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is formally known as the permanent representative of the United States of America to the United Nation ...

Governor of Illinois The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ...

Presidential Candidate A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...

* Thomas F. Tipton — U. S. Representative *

Carl Schurz Vrooman Carl Schurz Vrooman (October 25, 1872 - April 8, 1966) was the Assistant United States Secretary of Agriculture under Woodrow Wilson. He started the victory garden campaign during World War I. Vroomanwas born in Macon, Missouri, to Judge Hiram ...

— Assistant

Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments. The department includes several organi ...

under

President Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of P ...

References

{{reflist 1850 establishments in Illinois Cemeteries in Illinois Bloomington, Illinois Protected areas of McLean County, Illinois Tourist attractions in Bloomington–Normal