Graceland Cemetery: The Stones

No point in burying the lead (haw, haw): among all the memorials at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Dexter Graves’ stone surely gets the most attention. For one thing, it stands out at a distance.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

Safe to say that the memorial, including a haunting bronze figure called “Eternal Silence,” is better known than Dexter Graves himself. Graves was a Chicago pioneer, settling in the area in 1833, when the place was little more than a marshy spot near the Chicago River. He died in 1845, with reinternment and the memorial coming much later at the behest of an elderly son of his, who is buried there too – in 1909, by which time Chicago was a vast metropolis that probably would have astonished Graves.

Lorado Taft created the sculpture, and while I made images of it standing alone, soon a small group of French tourists came by for a look, including posing with it for pictures. Since the work is near the cemetery’s only entrance, I came back again before I left for another look, and that time an American couple, about my age, were there. The woman asked me whether I’d also seen “Fountain of Time” down in the Hyde Park neighborhood. Happily, I was able to tell her I had, including the quote that goes with it, “Time stays, we go.”

I also recommended “The Eternal Indian,” out in Ogle County, which she said she hadn’t seen. I forgot to mention – it would have been showing off anyway – seeing his “Alma Mater” in Champaign, the memorial he worked on in Mount Carroll, Illinois, his sculptures in the Fern Room of the Garfield Park Conservatory or the Fountain of the Great Lakes at the Art Institute. That’s just a scattering. To see more of Taft’s work, you have to pay attention elsewhere in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky (in Paducah, I wasn’t paying attention), Washington, DC, Colorado, Michigan, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Kansas and probably other places.

Also, you can see “The Crusader,” which is Graceland, marking the grave of Victor Lawson (d. 1925), one-time publisher of the Chicago Daily News. Lorado Taft did that too, though later in his career, 1931.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

When was the last time a newspaper crusaded about anything? Not recently, private equity owners don’t like it.

Assorted business tycoons, moguls and robber barons repose in Graceland, without a cent to their names these days. But in their day, they or their immediate heirs had big bucks to spend on big memorials. None is bigger than retailer and hotelier Potter Palmer (d. 1902).Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

That kind of dough will also buy you a picturesque waterfront location.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

I have to say the Palmer tomb is quite a presence, standing out even among many other large tombs, of which there are many. Such as that for George Pullman.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

The pyramid of 19th-century beermaker Peter Schoenhofen.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

Others.Graceland Cemetery Graceland Cemetery Graceland Cemetery
Graceland Cemetery

The cemetery’s stone- and metalwork curls and is otherwise shaped in ways remarkable to see. How can these hard materials be persuaded to take those shapes? By the rare skill of the artisans, as long gone as the captains of industry inside the tombs.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

A small building stands near the entrance of Graceland, including a patio with iron tables and chairs, a few of which were occupied when I visited, since the day was just warm enough for that. Inside the building, heated this time of year, visitors can rest on a bench, go to the bathroom, watch a video about the cemetery and, just as important, pick up a free paper map that guides you to the graves of some (but hardly all) of the well-known permanent residents.

Not every grand cemetery has that amenity, but when you find one, that ups the visit into a kind of treasure hunt, if you want. A look for the famed stones, like at Hollywood Forever in Los Angeles with its movie stars or Forest Home in Milwaukee with its brewers. My idea of a good time, but I’m eccentric that way. Besides some of the stones mentioned above, the map takes you to lumber baron and Goodman Theatre patron William Goodman.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

And Mr. Whipple.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

He’s not actually on the map, probably because the memorial isn’t for the person obsessed with toilet paper, since he was fictional. Even so, I understand he received treatment for his OCD, retired from the grocery business and lived with his daughter in Florida until his death in 2007.

MLB star Ernie Banks, “Mr. Cub,” and the first black player for the Cubs. Nearby is dancer Ruth Page.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

Minnie Miñoso, a fairly recent stone. In fact, I read that it was erected only this summer. Graceland is still an active cemetery, with more open land than I would have thought.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

I had to look him up; among other things, he was the first black player for the White Sox. The Cuban Comet, he was called, which sounds like something invented by a sports reporter pounding print on his old typewriter.

Heavyweight prizefighter Jack Johnson, the Galveston Giant, famed for upsetting racists in the early 20th century.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

The small pyramid of architectural photographer and preservationist Richard Nickel, a favorite of mine in Chicago history.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

Gov. John Peter Altgeld, another favorite but from Illinois history, who knew that pardoning the surviving men convicted in the Haymarket bombing would probably cost him the governorship, as indeed it likely did. It was that or preside over a miscarriage of justice, he believed.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

Chicago is a city of architects; Graceland is a necropolis of architects. I didn’t see them all – missed Burnham on his island, for example – but I got a good sample.

Including Mies van der Rohe. For him, a flat black spare Miesian sort of memorial.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

But he has a splendid view.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

William LeBaron Jenny.William LeBaron Jenny

Bruce Goff.Bruce Goff grave

Louis Sullivan.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

Talk about teasing a rarefied shape out of base metal. In this case, the work’s designer at least is known: Thomas Tallmadge (d. 1940), who is also at Graceland.

Graceland Cemetery: The Color

On Sunday Yuriko was at her occasional cake class creating some figgy pudding. That’s what I’m calling it, since fig is the star ingredient, along with cinnamon and nutmeg and other spices. I’m also calling it oishi, Japanese for delicious, a word we use a fair amount.

There is no Spam in the recipe, however. Just as well.

Class is in the city, and I am chauffeur on such days, driving to the Humboldt Park neighborhood. The benefit for me: I get to spend a few hours in Chicago. This time I used the time to visit Graceland Cemetery on the North Side, accessed by bus and then the CTA Red Line.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

More color than I expected. The leaves are a little late in falling this year.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

What can it signify? Natural variation in timing? A hint of climate woes? I can’t claim to be smart enough to know, but I do know that my hour-plus stroll benefited from the unexpected late colors. Graceland is a queen among cemeteries for its beauty, so any season will offer a display worthy of that status. Still, fall is special.

As an arboretum, Graceland has over 2,000 trees and scores of species.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

In Chicago, as well as other major cities in America and Europe, cemeteries predated city parks as sites for pastoral strolls and quiet contemplation,” notes Chicago Garden: The Early History.Thomas B. Bryan, a wealthy Chicago businessman and avid horticulturist, was the major force behind the creation of Graceland in 1860. Along with other investors [he] formed the Graceland Cemetery Company.

“Graceland’s location was ideal: readily accessible from Green Bay Road (now Clark Street) and later the Chicago and Evanston Railroad, yet far enough removed from the city to avoid health and sanitation issues. The company chose the high ridge area along what is now Clark Street, which was once an old Indian trail… In the sandy soil here, plants thrive better than in Chicago’s typical clay soil.”Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

Water views. The map calls it Lake Willowmere.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

An ivy-covered stone. Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

That can’t be an accident of nature, since the standard of lawn care is clearly pretty high at Graceland. Could be the Simons wanted it that way. Or still do. Anyway, the leaves are changing.

Coyote, looks like. Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

I didn’t get very close, but close enough, and he seemed nonchalant about being around humans. He just wandered on by. Urban Coyote: there’s an animation project in that for someone.

Color is good, of course. So is monochrome.Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Graceland Cemetery, Chicago

In our time and place, cemetery tourism isn’t much practiced. At many cemeteries, I’m the only living person around, except maybe for grounds keepers. Graceland stood out from most in that way. I saw maybe two dozen or so other visitors, including bike riders, dog walkers and a handful doing what I was doing: wandering the 121-acre grounds, taking it in.

We Decide Who’s Naughty or Nice

Saw some houses in our neighborhood this week with lighted Christmas lights. To that I say, no. Sure, put them up when it’s still fairly warm – as it was today, touching 60° F. But don’t light them. How about waiting until the feast of St. Lucia on December 13? That’s a festival of light, after all.

I’m sure that idea would go nowhere. The response to anyone suggesting it, at least here in North America, would be, eh? Who’s that?

Never mind, Christmas is on its way. Some places light up even earlier, and retailers have been at it for a while now. Sometimes that means oddities.

Spotted the other day on a retail shelf. Careful, though: Not intended for highway use, unless you want to scatter elf limbs on the Interstate.

I’d heard of Elf on the Shelf, which makes the joke (mildly) funny, but didn’t actually know that much about it. Turns out the Elf isn’t that old, invented less than 20 years ago. To look at the thing, you’d think it was devised by ad men of the 1920s, as so much consumer culture was.

It also turns out that they are spies for Santa. Ho ho ho. That’s awfully granular of Old St. Nick. Of course, he has a big job to do, making that list. Here’s another idea: Stasi on the Shelf.

Thursday Products

During my junior year in college, my roommate Rich and I thumbtacked empty, flattened product packages to the wall of our two-bedroom dorm – inside the hallway closet, that is, which we didn’t use for much else. There on the 12th floor of – what was the name of that building again? – we called it the Package Art Gallery.

After 40+ years, I don’t remember the contents of the gallery, except for a flattened box that had held a muffin mix. Specifically blueberry muffins, and one of the tag lines amused us: “The most very blueberry anythings you ever ate.”

Why did we do this? As far as I can remember, collegiate whimsy. Or maybe to make a statement on art and consumerism. Why not? We never did whip up any art-speak for such a statement, but we could have. Nowadays, you don’t even have to do that, you just find a machine to do it for you, such as the amusingly named Artybollocks.

I’ve long put away collegiate things, but I could start an online package art gallery. Maybe based on things I see at discounter Ollie’s, which can indicate a less-than-stellar future for the products. Or not.

A good idea? I can’t deny having ever eaten a Ding Dong, but I’m sure I’ve never drunk any. Some postings about it when it was rolled out in 2020. Since then, less so.

Interesting idea, I guess. 

Could be entertaining. Aimed at kids. But it looks like the concept was, Let’s do Risk, in Space! But without any of those annoying geographical names. No, it wouldn’t do to have kids not know something and maybe have to ask about it. Or look it up. Or have an older kid make something up about Kamchatka.

Ask St. Joseph

Cold rain, shorter daylight, still some green, since there hasn’t been a hard freeze yet. But it won’t be long. Mid-November has arrived all sullen and damp.

We’re not in the market to sell our house, but some things you can’t help noticing. I spotted this in the impulse-buy section near checkout at a hardware store I visit sometimes, an alternative to the big box DIY store not far away, where seeking a particular item can turn into a longish expedition.

I’d heard about burying a statue of St. Joseph to help along a residential sale – I think back around ’09, when that method was probably as good as any other. But I hadn’t thought about it since.

Ten minutes of looking around on line about the practice, and you find out at least two things: a number of sites offering instructions on burying your statue that may or may not endorse the practice, but certainly seem to say what the heck, might as well give it a go (such as here). On the other hand, there are also short essays about the superstitious nature of the practice (such as here), asserting that Catholics shouldn’t be burying saint statues upside down, or at all.

It made me wonder whether St. Joseph can help renters find an apartment that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, which would be seriously useful assistance in the current market. He is the patron of housing, after all. Just another thing to think about waiting in line at the hardware store.

The Fate of Pumpkins & Mice

We put a couple of pumpkins out for ornaments last month in our front yard. Visible decay in the not-too-distant-future is their fate, but unseen creatures accelerated things. Squirrels are top of the suspect list.

October 28PUMPKINS

November 8PUMPKINS

With no dog on patrol, squirrels and rabbits and field mice have been having a grand old time this year in our yards. At least, that’s my thinking. The uptick in mouse population means some of their number are raiding the house, which has inspired countermeasures on our part, such as traps. Not catch-and-release PETA-approved milquetoast sorts of traps, but standard instant death via snap.

That and ultrasonic devices that supposedly deter the entrance of rodents in the first place. The battle is ongoing. After a week or so of no activity, we’ve murderized one more mouse each night so far this week. Removing the remains in the morning is a task that falls to me, following traditional gender roles in this case. I can’t call it a pleasant chore, but there is a bit of satisfaction in showing the creatures the literal and metaphoric doors.

The Eiffel Tower, 1994

Ah, Paris in November. The stuff of romantic moonshine in the English-speaking world? Maybe not quite as much as spring, but we had a fine time anyway. The pastries were good. The best, actually. Calling out to us from behind glass in pastry shops, expensive even when priced in francs, but entirely worth it.

I wonder whether Eiffel Tower postcards are readily available any more. I mailed this one from Paris in November 1994.

I like it even now because of the unusual angle. Reminds me of the few minutes we spent sitting on a bench pretty much under the structure, gazing up at it. At that angle, I thought, that is one impressive iron sculpture. So impressive that moviemakers knock it down a lot.

Except for the fact that it was designed by a Frenchman, and happens to be in France, is there anything essentially French about it? What if its plans for the Exposition Universelle of 1889 had fallen through, but the organizers of the 1893 Columbian Exposition had gotten wind of the design, and asked Gustav Eiffel to erect it in the future Jackson Park in Chicago? Would it stand there even now, a shape associated with Chicago to almost everyone in the world?

Madsen Drive Walk

It was an odd ambition, and fairly minor, but I’m glad I fulfilled it. Namely, a 20-minute or so walk along Madsen Drive, a street in Bloomingdale, Illinois. Also glad I did it when I did: October 24, for the colors.

Bloomingdale is a sizable burg in DuPage County, but there’s nothing conventionally distinctive about Madsen Drive. It isn’t on anyone’s list, such as Ten Best Can’t-Miss Bucket List Don’t Get FOMO Travel Faves, etc. I know about it because I’ve been driving on it for years as a shortcut to a warehouse store we often visit. For quite a while, I had this idea that it would be a mildly scenic walk, since the drive is nice, but things whiz by. I also noted that a sidewalk runs all the way along it.

I was right: mildly scenic. Not everywhere gets Grand Teton-level scenery, but a lot places have enough for a nice-day stroll in the suburbs.

The street is industrial, which in this case means businesses located in distribution warehouses, which also means they might pay attention to who is in their parking lots. So parking somewhere near the street and then walking around might not be a good idea. The street is small, so no parking allowed on it either.

As we headed for our warehouse store that day, I told Yuriko that I was dropping myself off at the intersection of Madsen and Covington Drive (blue box), and she could drive on to the store. I would walk Madsen and meet her there (red box). She didn’t share my minor ambition in this case, because who would?

Near the dropoff.Madsen Drive, Bloomingdale Madsen Drive, Bloomingdale Madsen Drive, Bloomingdale

Though small, the road is surprisingly busy, something you notice when on the sidewalk, but not usually when you’re driving the road. Traffic is somewhat spaced out. Still, I saw a number of trucks headed for the warehouses along Madsen.Madsen Drive, Bloomingdale Madsen Drive, Bloomingdale

Not much in the way of original or ornate design, but I’ve come to appreciate the modern warehouse as workaday marvel that it is. An vital sinew of retail trade.

Note on the map that besides warehouses, there are wetlands. Could have been at the insistence of local authorities that they were left alone. I hope so anyway. This unnamed, driftwood pond was close enough to the street to get a good look.Madsen Drive, Bloomingdale Madsen Drive, Bloomingdale Madsen Drive, Bloomingdale

Warehouse districts also mean rail lines.Madsen Drive, Bloomingdale

All the many times I’ve crossed the line at this point by car, I’ve never had to wait for a train. No trains either when I crossed on foot. There must be some traffic, but even so I’m reminded of a Charles Addams cartoon about an abandoned line, from one of the collections we had around the house when I was young. His work sticks with you. Wonder how many people who watched the Addams Family movies knew about the originals.

Meacham Grove Forest Preserve & The Temporary Tunnel of Gold

Though it’s fairly close, we hadn’t been to the Meacham Grove Forest Preserve in a few years, so on the last Saturday in October, I suggested a walk. Bright, warm and little wind: a good day for it.Meacham FP

The path around Maple Lake – called that on maps, anyway – takes you about halfway before you come to another path: a section of the North Central DuPage Regional Trail. We headed west on that trail. Meacham Forest Preserve October 2024

At first the trail passes Spring Brook and Meacham Marsh. The Meacham brothers were earlier settlers in this part of DuPage County and the village of Bloomington was once known as Meacham’s Grove, as a waystation on the Chicago-Galena Stagecoach Trail.Meacham Forest Preserve October 2024 Meacham Forest Preserve October 2024

At that moment in October, the trail winds into a tunnel of gold. That’s what I’m calling it anyway, mostly formed by a canopy of maple leaves. Canada has no monopoly on them, even if they put it on their flag.Meacham Forest Preserve October 2024 Meacham Forest Preserve October 2024 Meacham Forest Preserve October 2024

Roselle Road divides the preserve. The other section is accessible by footbridge over the road.Meacham Forest Preserve October 2024

All these years in the northwest suburbs, and we’d never ventured across the bridge. In the western section of the preserve, the North Central DuPage Regional Trail connects to a half-mile loop, Savanna Trail. Not quite a tunnel of gold, but not too shabby in its foliage.Meacham Forest Preserve October 2024 Meacham Forest Preserve October 2024 Meacham Forest Preserve October 2024

There’s a metaphor in those leaves somewhere: a brief blaze of glory near the end.Meacham Forest Preserve October 2024 Meacham Forest Preserve October 2024

Or maybe leaves are leaves are leaves.