
Forest Home Cemetery is a
cemetery
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...
located at 863 S. Des Plaines Ave,
Forest Park, Illinois
Forest Park (formerly Harlem) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. The population was 14,339 at the 2020 census. The Forest Park (CTA station), Forest Park terminal on the Chicago Transit Authority, CTA ...
, United States. Located adjacent to the
Eisenhower Expressway
Interstate 290 (I-290) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway that runs westward from the Jane Byrne Interchange near the Chicago Loop. The portion of I-290 from Interstate 294, I-294 to its east end is officially called the Dwight D. Eisenhowe ...
, it straddles the
Des Plaines River
The Des Plaines River ( ) is a river that flows southward for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois''American H ...
in
Cook County
Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40 percent of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. ...
, just west of
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. The cemetery traces its history to two adjacent cemeteries, German Waldheim (1873) and Forest Home (1876), which merged in 1969.
The cemetery includes two listings on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. The
Haymarket Martyrs' Monument
The ''Haymarket Martyrs' Monument'' is a funeral monument and sculpture located at Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Dedicated in 1893, it commemorates the defendants involved in labor unrest who were blamed, ...
was named a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
in 1997. The gravesite of
Joseph Carter Corbin, a pioneer in Black education and founder of the
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) is a Public University, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Founded in 1873, it is the second oldest public college or univer ...
, was added to the National Register in 2023.
History
Forest Home Cemetery was the site of a
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...
village and burial ground until 1835.
[Forest Home Cemetery. n.d. "Points of Interest". Forest Park, IL.] Two memorials at Forest Home are dedicated to Native Americans who lived in the region prior to white settlement.
Ferdinand Haase, founder of
Forest Park
A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment.
Examples
Chile
* Forest Park, Santiago
China
* Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai
* Mufushan National Fore ...
, and other members of the Haase family are buried on what at one time also was a Haase family
homestead
Homestead may refer to:
*Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses
* Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...
.
The cemetery was formally established and incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois in 1876.
The German Waldheim Cemetery was organized by a group of German
Masonic Lodges
A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry.
It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...
in 1873 with the first interment on May 9, 1873. The Waldheim Cemetery was established as a non-religion-specific cemetery, where
Freemasons
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
,
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin
** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities
** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom
* Romanians (Romanian ...
, and German-speaking immigrants to Chicago could be buried without regard for religious affiliation.
The two adjacent cemeteries merged on February 28, 1969, with the combined cemetery being called Forest Home (''Waldheim'' means "forest home" in German).
Jewish Waldheim Cemetery, located across
Roosevelt Road
Roosevelt Road (originally named 12th Street) is a major east-west street in the city of Chicago, Illinois, and its western suburbs. It is 1200 South in the city's street numbering system, but only south of Madison Street. It runs under t ...
, is a separate cemetery and is not affiliated with Forest Home.
Haymarket Memorial
The "Haymarket martyrs," as the five defendants sentenced to death in the
Haymarket affair
The Haymarket affair, also known as the Haymarket massacre, the Haymarket riot, the Haymarket Square riot, or the Haymarket Incident, was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on May 4, 1886 at Haymarket Square (C ...
came to be called among their sympathizers, were buried at Waldheim because since its establishment, it had a policy of not discriminating on the basis of race, ethnicity, or politics, in addition to being open to any religion. It was also the only
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
-area cemetery that would accept their remains. After their burial, the cemetery became a place of pilgrimage for anarchists, leftists, and union members. In 1893, the ''
Haymarket Martyrs' Monument
The ''Haymarket Martyrs' Monument'' is a funeral monument and sculpture located at Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Dedicated in 1893, it commemorates the defendants involved in labor unrest who were blamed, ...
'', designed by sculptor
Albert Weinert, was erected.
In homage to the Haymarket martyrs, other anarchists and socialists later chose to be buried at Waldheim, well into the 20th century, including:
Other notable interments
The cemetery also includes the graves of:
*
Harry Aleman
Harry "The Hook" Aleman (January 19, 1939 – May 15, 2010) was a Chicago mobster who was one of the most feared enforcers for the Chicago Outfit during the 1970s. Aleman got the nickname "Hook" from his boxing career in high school. He is also ...
(mobster, murderer)
*
Billy Sunday
William Ashley Sunday (November 19, 1862 – November 6, 1935) was an American evangelist and professional baseball outfielder. He played for eight seasons in the National League before becoming the most influential American preacher during t ...
(evangelist, prohibitionist, baseball player)
*
Doris Humphrey
Doris Batcheller Humphrey (October 17, 1895 – December 29, 1958) was an American dancer and choreographer of the early twentieth century. Along with her contemporaries Martha Graham and Katherine Dunham, Humphrey was one of the second gen ...
(modern dance pioneer)
*
Paul Harvey
Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast ''News and Comment'' on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous ''The Rest o ...
, (radio announcer)
*
Belle Gunness
Belle Gunness (born Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth; November 11, 1859 – possibly April 28, 1908), nicknamed Hell's Belle, was a Norwegian-American serial killer who was active in Illinois and Indiana between 1884 and 1908. Gunness is thought t ...
(serial killer)
* Parents and grandparents of author
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
*
Joseph Carter Corbin (educator and founder of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) and his wife, Mary Jane Corbin and sons, John Ward Corbin and William H. Corbin.
*
Edward Uihlein (vice president of
Schlitz Brewing Company, philanthropist)
The cemetery is home to two memorials to Chicago-area
Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (United States Navy, U.S. Navy), and the United States Marine Corps, Marines who served in the American Ci ...
posts. The memorial of
Phil Sheridan
Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with General-i ...
Post 615, based in
Oak Park, Illinois
Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, adjacent to Chicago. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 26th-most populous municipality in Illinois, with a population of 54,318 as of the 2020 census. Oak Park was first se ...
, is atop the gravesite of one of its former presidents, Wilbur Fisk Crummer. Chicago-based Columbia Post 706 has its memorial in the cemetery west of the
Des Plaines River
The Des Plaines River ( ) is a river that flows southward for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois''American H ...
.
See also
*
Burials at Forest Home Cemetery (category)
*
List of cemeteries in Cook County, Illinois
This list of cemeteries in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois includes currently operating, historical (closed for new interments), and defunct (graves abandoned or removed) cemeteries, columbaria, and mausolea which are historical and ...
*
Chicago Helicopter Airways Flight 698 crashed at the cemetery in 1960
References
External links
Forest Home Cemetery official website
Forest Home Cemeteryat Graveyards.com
Forest Home Cemetery Overview
{{Coord, 41.8698, N, 87.8198, W, display=title
Cemeteries in Cook County, Illinois
Freemasonry in Illinois
German cemeteries
German-American culture in Chicago
Romani in the United States
Forest Park, Illinois
1969 establishments in Illinois
Masonic cemeteries
Cemeteries established in the 1870s