Graceland , Part 3

Ready for more of Chicagoland's colorful history of its rich and famous citizens through this world-famous tourist spot/cemetery?  Here we go....

Potter Palmer & Bertha Honore Palmer(pic courtesy of Graceland.com)

Potter Palmer (1826-1902)  & Bertha Honoré Palmer (1850-1918). Erected 1921.

I knew a little bit about Potter Palmer through his partnership with Mr Marshall Field.  I had  heard of and seen the Palmer House Hotel, but I've yet to step into its lobby, LOL. Click  here  for more details on their lives.  Surrounding the two huge sarcophagi, beneath the floor, their loved ones are also buried.

Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846-1912)

Pic courtesy of Graceland.com

Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood."

--DHB

Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846-1912), was a world-famous architect and city planner, Click  here  for more detailson his life and accomplishments.  He's quite famous in the Philippines as the planner of  Baguio City , Philippines.  I love the fact that he is buried on his own ISLAND (a-la Diana, former Princess of Wales).

Inez Clarke

Inez Clark (1873-1880) died at the age of six. She is usually our last stop before we exit the cemetery.  Her monument always makes me feel a little sorrowful, especially after I've had children.  Click  here    for more details on her life and gravesite. 

O, death where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory?

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ

~ 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

Just a few blocks away from the cemetery is Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs!  Go, Cubbies!!!

The Friendly Confines!

Graceland Cemetery, Part 2

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.

11.07.04.17

Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

We wanted to take our out-of-town guests to a place unlike any they’ve visited in the past. Plus, it was FREE (a plus in this economy). What better place than the historic & beautiful Graceland Cemetery?! It’s the final resting place of many of Illinois’ wealthy, its politicians, & its movers and shakers. Here are a few, among many, of notable gravesites (Model is B-I-L):

...for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return  ~ Genesis 3: 19

First stop: Eternal Silence by sculptor Lorado Taft, 1909, for hotelier Dexter Graves' (!) plot. AKA, "The Statue of Death". Per graveyards.com: A robed and hooded bronze figure stands before a polished black slab of granite, its face partially hidden by one arm.

pc: wikipedia

Below, is the gravesite of lumber merchant Henry Harrison Getty's wife, Carrie. Getty chose Louis Henri Sullivan to create this tomb. Per graveyards.com: Sullivan's Getty tomb has been called "the beginning of modern architecture in America," and was designated a city landmark in 1971 by Mayor Daley The Getty tomb is in the shape of a cube, with the roof overhanging the walls slightly. Sullivan's trademark arches are above the doors and windows, concentric arches with radial spokes. Octagons fill the space around the arches on the upper half of the walls. An intricate bronze gate with floral and geometric patterns, another Sullivan trademark, stands in the front of the equally ornate door. A plaster cast of this doorway won Sullivan an award at the Paris Exposition of 1900.

Below, family gravesite of one of Chicago's wealthiest man, Marshall Field. The monument is called Memory (its finish reminds me of Frango Mints, LOL). Mr Field was the owner of the highly successful department store chain, Marshall Field and Company (bought out by Macy's)

Below: I've always been fascinated by this tombstone for Bruce Goff, architect. I think the polished stone is gorgeous! Just a few feet away is the simple, pretty-much unadorned, polished slab (granite?) that marks the final resting place of world-famous pioneering master of Modern Architecture, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Tombstone of dancer, Ruth Page

I had never noticed the gravesite below until now. From his site, I can assume the following: he was in the medical field because of the Caduceus symbol on his stone marker, he was musically-talented, and he was much-cherished by his family. This gravesite is right behind the family plot of the Armour Family (of meat-packing fame).

My thoughts: This place does not spook me, by God's grace. Death is a part of all of our lives. I am reminded, when looking at the gravesites, that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. I am thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth has conquered death, and is alive forevermore. My hope is in Him, for to be absent in the body is to be present with my Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).