Rosehill Cemetery..

Rosehill is the largest and one of the oldest cemeteries in the City of Chicago. Spread over 350 acres of land, it was established in Feb, 1859. The first burial took in the same month..
Some prominent features..
- Entrance Gate designed by William Boyington..
- A Romanesque chapel by Joseph Silsbee
- City's largest public mausoleum, by Sidney Lovell..
- Landscaped by William Saunders..
Here's a trivia from it's website..
The name "Rosehill" resulted from a mapmaker's error - the area was previously called "Roe's Hill", named for nearby tavern keeper Hiram Roe..

Rosehill Cemetery Entrance, is designated a Chicago Landmark.. It was designed by William W. Boyington, in 1964..

Abandoned stone stairs are just outside the main gate, lead to train tracks. When the tracks were first constructed, the operators of the Chicago and North Western line had a special funeral car, built to hold a casket. An elevator would lower the casket from the train platform to ground level. The train station is gone now. All that remains is the limestone building which housed the elevator, and these stairs. The tracks are currently used by Metra commuter rail.

Civil War Soldiers graves...

Our Heroes: Civil War Monument..
by Leonard W. Volk..
# For more, click here..

Volunteer Firefighters Monument..
by Leonard W. Volk..
# For more, click here..

Tomb of Leonard Wells Volk..
# For more, click here..

Two greyhounds mark the graves of the Stein family..
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A buck, with its antlers broken away. Nothing remaining but small nubs on the forehead.
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Frances M. Pearce Wife of Horatio O. Stone, died May 1864..
Frances Pearce Daughter of H.O. Stone..
# For more, click here..

Lulu..

The Jauriet monument..
From Rosehill cemetery website ..
This is an example of a "surrogate mourner", female figures of this type usually do not represent an actual person, but rather an ideal woman that the man buried here would like to have mourning him..

Darius Miller Mausoleum..
# For more, click here..

Adam Schaaf's mausoleum, guarded by two lions..
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The Horatio N. May Chapel..
It was designed by architect Joseph L. Slisbee and built in 1899. Its design features Gothic and Romanesque elements..

Rosehill Mausoleum..
dedicated in 1914, was designed by architect Sidney Lovell, who is himself entombed within. It is the grandest mausoleum in Chicago, in terms of size and beauty.

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Rosehill Cemetery Entrance

Chicago Landmark
Rosehill Cemetery Entrance
William W. Boyington, architect
1864..
Designed by the architect of Old Chicago Water Tower and predating it by five years, the Rosehill Cemetery Entrance is a rare Midwestern example of castellated Gothic architecture. Many prominent Chicagoans are buried here in plots marked by distinctive memorial sculpture.
Designated a Chicago Landmark on October 16, 1980
by the City Council of Chicago
Jane M. Byrne, Mayor
Commission on Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks..

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Rosehill Cemetery [Charles J. Hull]

Charles J. Hull Monument..
By Richard Henry Park..

Charles J. Hull [1820-1889] was wealthy real estate developer and one of Chicago's pioneer citizens. He is best known today his Halsted Street mansion. The house, built in 1856, was leased in 1889 to social reformer Jane Addams (1860-1935), who later acquired much of the surrounding neighborhood as well. "Hull House" was a settlement house, providing housing and education to new immigrants for over forty years. Jane Addams received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work.

A strange story became associated with Hull House in the 1920s, particularly among Italian immigrants. Supposedly, a young woman was pregnant when her husband swore at a picture of Christ. As punishment, the baby was born with horns, a tail, and cloven hooves. This "devil-baby" was given over to Addams and kept in the attic of Hull House. People came from miles around to see the "devil-baby", only to be turned away at the door with the news that no such creature existed at Hull House. This story eventually inspired the film Rosemary's Baby.

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Rosehill Cemetery [Our Heroes: Civil War Monument - by Leonard Wells Volk]

Our Heroes.. Civil War Monument [1869-70]
By Leonard Wells Volk..
Directly ahead of the main gate of Rosehill Cemetery..
From the book, "A Guide to Chicago's Public Sculpture",
by Ira J. Bach and Mary Lackritz Gray..
This 30-foot high monument is dedicated to Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. The memorial consists of a square limestone shaft topped by a marble figure of a Union standard bearer holding his flag in his left hand and a bugle in the right.
In front is the inscription, "Our Heroes"..
Four bronze plaques at the base of the column portray members of the four brances of service: cavalry, infantry, artillary and navy.

Our Heroes..

Four bronze plaques at the base of the column portray members of the four brances of service: cavalry, infantry, artillary and navy.

The Monument of Battery A..
It consists of a cannon hewn out of stone, covered with starry flag and there's a pyramid of cannon balls of stone.. At he foot appears the names of the fallen members of the battery and those of the battles in which they have taken part..
The Monument of Battery B..
A mortal upon a stone foundation..

Union Civil War Soldiers Graves..
Two hundred and thirty civil war soldiers are buried in two large plots east of the Civil War Monument..As the original marble stones have deteriorated, most have been replaced with modern markers.

Tomb of Major General Thomas E.G.Ransom..
Very close to Civil War Soldier-garves..

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Rosehill Cemetery [Volunteer Firefighters Monument - by Leonard W. Volk]

Volunteer Firefighters Monument..
by Leonard W. Volk..
Dedicated: 1864..
Rededicated October 7, 1979, Chicago Firefighters' Union..

A vigilant fireman stands atop a tall column, with a megaphone in his left hand. The base of the column is wrapped with coiled fire hose. The marble monument commemorates the 15 members of Chicago's volunteers fire brigate who are buried on the plot.. The granite marker at the base contains the names of all firefighters killed in the line of duty. Four old-style hydrants make up the corners of this memorial.

The funeral scene in the movie Backdraft. was filmed using a replica of this monument.

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Rosehill Cemetery [Leonard Wells Volk - self portrait by Leonard Wells Volk]

Leonard Wells Volk was also the designer of several of Rosehill's better-known public monuments..
- Our Heroes, and..
- The Volunteer Fireman's Monument.
One of his last works was this self-portrait, executed by Gast Monuments. Volk sits in a small island, surrounded by the headstones of his family.

Volk arrived in Chicago in 1858 after studying sculpture in Italy, a trip sponsored by his brother-in-law, Stephen Douglas. He created a bust of Senator Douglas and one of President Lincoln. He sculpted Douglas and Lincoln several times over the next few years, and these remain his best-known works. When Senator Douglas died in 1861, Volk was commissioned to design the Douglas tomb. Funds became available in 1877, and the 96 foot tall tomb was completed in 1881 on Douglas' south side estate.

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Rosehill Cemetery [Two Dogs]

These two greyhounds mark the graves of the Stein family, ca. 1920.
A marker reads - Perpetual Care...

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