Chicago's Forgotten Cemetery

Unbeknownst to most, beneath some of the most populated and heavily used land in the country, there lies the remains of a cemetery.   Chicago's old City Cemetery  used to occupy space that is now Lincoln Park.   Begun in 1846, it used to take up space that was on the edge of the city.  However, as the city grew and land came into high demand, a movement began to move the city cemetery.   In 1866,   this idea was shot down by courts and it seemed the cemetery would remain along this beautiful lake front property forever.   However, in 1871 something happened that changed everything.  In a small barn a fire began that moved into the city and devoured Chicago.  The flames of the inferno were so intense that only 3 buildings remain that stood against the all encompassing flames.  The fire devoured everything in its path.  People fled into the cemetery from the flames and jumped into open graves to escape.   But the fire had no mercy and the flames roasted those in open graves and even destroyed the grave markers.

After that there was no question as to the relocating of the cemetery. A massive disinterment effort began in 1872; in 1874, the last burial lots were condemned. The last acknowledged removals in this process occurred in 1877.  However,  many of the graves markers were lost in the fire so many bodies were not moved as part of this process and new construction in areas once belonging to the City Cemetery often reveals old corpses laying in unmarked graves.    It is no telling how many bodies still lay beneath the earth of the ground that was once the old City Cemetery.

Only the Couch Mausoleum remains as an official reminder of the cemetery.  Couch's family would not allow this tomb to be moved or even opened so it stands quietly in a lonely corner of an old park.   It is even a mystery as to how many bodies lay within the tomb.   Of course,  stories of ghosts and haunting proliferate in the area around the mausoleum where the dead still walk.  Our ghost tour told a tale of a phantom dog that wanders the grounds at night, leaping upon those that walk alone.

The Chicago Water Tower that Survived the Fire

I ate dinner at a wonderful French restaurant in front of Chicago's historic water tower last night.  It was Steak au Pouvre with pomme fritte.  Yum.  I could travel the world for no other reason than to eat and look at buildings.  The building behind us, the water tower, is definitely worth the trip as well.   Between October 10, 1871 and October 12, 1871  downtown Chicago was destroyed by a massive unstoppable fire.   Due to its wonderful stone, Gothic construction the water tower was one of the few buildings not destroyed in the fiery inferno.  Apparently, Chicago was made mostly of wood in the nineteenth century and the water tower was one of the rare buildings made entirely of stone.  The water tower and the water pump station across the street are two massive, castle like structures that stand out of down town Chicago like a Gothic cathedral would stand out in Alabama.  The stone structure provided sanctuary to those fleeing the fire on October 10-12th. 

According Dylan Clearfield,  this tower that has born witness to Chicago's long history,  is haunted by those who died during the fires.   He believes that those who tried to reach the safety of the tower and failed still cling to the old structure finding the sanctuary in death there that they couldn't find in life.  According to Clearfield, ghosts have been seen in the windows of the water tower and they are sometimes even seen hanging by their neck.   There is no known reason for the ghosts to be seen in such a state, but the stories remain bearing witness to some haunted past that history has forgotten.