Chicago: Day 6 - Rosehill Cemetery

After our fascinating foray into the worlds of vintage soaps and cleaning and sewing implements, we headed over to the nearby Rosehill Cemetery (yelp reviews here). This was also in the Edgewater/Andersonville neighborhood. After seeing Graceland and reading up on Rosehill and its famous "occupants", I felt we had to go and check it out. Oh yeah, more on Rosehill here and here.
Rosehill is the oldest Victorian era cemetery in Chicago and also one of the largest at 350 acres. This entrance was designed by William W. Boyington, the architect of the Chicago Water Tower and the Old University of Chicago, who is buried in Rosehill.
The grave of Charles Hull which is located near the entrance of the cemetery. He's just sittin in his chair watching everyone go by . More info about him here.
One of the many roads that meander through Rosehill. It looks kind of normal now, but I wouldn't want to be here at night.
This glass encased monument commerates Frances Pearce who died in childbirth with her infant daughter. Her grief stricken husband had the statue made in their memory. It is one of two glass encased sites at Rosehill, the other being the gravesite of Lulu Fellows which we did not have a chance to see. More about Frances Pearce's grave here. I found this monument quite sad.

This cemetery was much much larger than Graceland, but I thought Graceland had more "personality". This was too vast to travel by foot so we drove most of the way and stopping here and there occasionally.
The Rosehill Mausoleum houses such Chicago luminaries as former mayors and department store magnates Montgomery Ward and Sears (they were rivals in life but "neighbors" in death - Ward supposedly haunts the crypt) and John G. Shedd (as in the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago). We did go inside (the entrance is actually in the back) but after walking down one or two halls, got creeped out and left. Yes, even I got creeped out by this place. Not that it was spooky or anything - it was actually quite modern inside with marble floors and real Tiffany windows inside. Rather, it was so damn quiet (well, duh, it's full of the entombed remains of rich and famous Chicagoans) and no one was in there. Plus, it was humongous and I didn't want to wander the halls looking for Montgomery Ward or Sears' crypts.
Not sure who this was but this was a pretty large private mausoleum.
Here's something creepy...As Bert and I were looking for the grave of Ignaz Schwinn, the bicycle manufacturer, I felt several bone chilling breezes as I gingerly stepped around a series of headstones. Even though it was sunny, there was still a slight coldness in the air along with the wind. At the time, I figured, "It's the wind"...But when I asked Bert if he felt any super cold breezes, he didn't! Or, maybe I'm blowing it out of proportion, but it felt unnaturally cold in some spots! It was that point where I was wanting to speed this little visit up so we could have lunch sooner!
Although we knew that Oscar Mayer was buried here, we didn't have time to look for his grave. Turns out it wasn't a huge monument or anything, just a small plain headstone seen here.

The one below is called "A Buck" but it's horns are broken off. Here's another shot here.
Monument for Leonard Volk, a sculptor who made busts of President Abrahama Lincoln and Senator Douglas.
Now this was a cool monument - This marks the spot where George S. Bangs lies. His claim to fame? He originated the idea of the railroad mail car, thus speeding up the mail process.
Detail of the base of the limestone tree trunk, depicting a mail car going through a tunnel.
This obelisk is the tallest in Rosehill , rising 72' above everyone else's graves. It is the monument for former Chicago Mayor John Wentworth.
The grave of A. B. Dick, a businessman whose company made copying machines and office supplies (he coined the word "mimeograph").
Huge monument here...
Speed bumps are called speed "humps" here.
We had enough of the boneyard! On to lunch!