Abstract
After the initial settlement across metro Chicago, residents relegated cemeteries to the edge of municipalities, but the edge soon became the middle. As population increased and spread outward, burial grounds were moved farther from the city center. Lincoln Park cemetery's (1836–1859) partial removal is perhaps the best-known example. In the 1860s, public-health official Dr. John Rauch led the movement to end burials within the city limits. He was especially critical of burials at Lincoln Park, which risked contaminating Lake Michigan, Chicago's water supply. Most of, but by no means all, the bodies were moved to Graceland, Rosehill, Oakwood, and other recently established cemeteries outside the city limits, making way for the expansion of Lincoln Park to the south.
Today, many once outlying cemeteries comprise prime real estate. Infrastructure projects as well as new housing and shopping-mall developments impinge on forgotten family cemeteries, “vacated” cemeteries, “inconveniently” situated cemeteries, and poor-farm cemeteries. The following examples, taken from cultural resource management (CRM) projects conducted by Midwest Archaeological Research Services (MARS), Inc., over a 30-year period, provide an overview of the impact of development on cemeteries (Figure 1). Archaeological surveys identified undisturbed and previously disturbed graves. Excavation and analysis of these burial remains provide information about early settlement, family life, religious institutions, and social structure. Most of the human remains recovered have been reinterred in another final resting place.