Here are more pics from our visit to
Graceland Cemetery with our out-of-town relatives. What an extremely interesting place. Please, enjoy the History lesson. Description and some pictures are from the official
Graceland Cemetery website.
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense ~ Song of Solomon 4:6
George Pullman (1831-1897)
A man who won't meet his own men halfway is a damn fool!"
--Mark Hanna, on George Pullman
George Pullman (1831-97) was the inventor of the Pullman sleeping car. When a Pullman car was attached to the funeral train carrying
Abraham Lincoln's body, demand for Pullman's product surged, and the Pullman Sleeping Car Company grew quickly.
George Pullman and
architect Solon Beman built the town of Pullman for his employees near 111th street. Pullman joked that the town had been named for both of them: the first syllable of his name, the second syllable of Beman's. The town of Pullman was a planned community, with schools, theaters, library, hotel, all operated by the
Pullman Sleeping Car Company.
The monument was designed by
Solon Beman and features a towering Corinthian column, flanked by curved benches. Because Pullman eventually became such a hated employer, he is buried just as, or more securely, than Abraham Lincoln. It would take an army of bulldozers to exhume him.
William Kimball (1828-1904)
William Kimball (1828-1904) was a manufacturer of pianos (we own one!). Kimball's monument is one of the largest in Graceland. Across the rear are four Corinthian columns, with two more on the sides. The structure is without a roof. Below, an angel kneels, watching over the two graves beneath the floor. The entire monument is of white marble, and was erected in 1907 from a design by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White.
Much of the original detail has eroded away, most noticeably the face of the angel. On bright days, this monument is more brilliant than any other.
William Goodman (1848-1936)
Above, rear view
Above, front view
Lumber magnate William Goodman (1848-1936) hired architect Howard Van Doren Shaw to design this tomb in 1919 after the death of his son. Lieutenant Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, a playright, died in 1918 of influenza while in Naval training. Goodman founded Goodman Theater.
The Goodman tomb was built into a hillside on the shore of Lake Willowmere. A concrete platform in front, just above the water level, permits access to the front door. The ground slopes upward away from the lake, and, at the rear of the mausoleum, is level with its roof. Visitors may step onto the roof from the rear, protected by a granite railing on the other three sides. In the center of this railing is a marble panel featuring relief carvings in the classical style. To either side are the words from the
Song of Solomon, "Until the Day Breaks and the Shadows Flee Away." (4:6)
The Bible verse is quoted in full at the top portion of today's entry.
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