Bohemian National Cemetery ( ) is a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

at 5255 North Pulaski Road in North Park,

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

History

The cemetery was established by members of Chicago's

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

community in 1877. The community had been outraged when a Czech

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

woman named Marie Silhanek was denied burial at several Catholic cemeteries in Chicago because she supposedly never made her Easter Duty (going to

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of people – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information that ...

and

Holy Communion The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an ordinance in others. Christians believe that the rite was instituted by J ...

at least once during the

Easter season Eastertide (also known as Eastertime or the Easter season) or Paschaltide (also known as Paschaltime or the Paschal season) is a festal season in the liturgical year of Christianity that focuses on celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. P ...

), which is incumbent on all Catholics. In response, the Czechs purchased land in what was then Jefferson Township to create a cemetery that they themselves could control.Rotzoli, Brenda Warner. "Offbeat Chicago – Outrage led to Bohemian cemetery". ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

''. December 8, 1996. p. 30. The original plot of land was . Over the years, the cemetery expanded to . The cemetery was featured in the 1998 film '' U.S. Marshals'' as the fictional Queens Hill Cemetery in Queens, NY. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2006.

Major features

Bohemian National Cemetery is known for its

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most ...

and its highly decorated

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...

niches, which contain photographs, artwork, flags, and other mementos of the individuals whose ashes are stored there. Czech-American military veterans are honored through an

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

memorial, a

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

memorial, and a

World Wars A world war is an international conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World War I (19 ...

memorial, which were dedicated in 1889, 1926, and 1952, respectively. The cemetery also boasts two sculptures by

Albin Polasek Albin Polasek (; February 14, 1879 – May 19, 1965) was a Austria-Hungarian–born American sculptor and educator. A practicing artist, he also headed the sculpture department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He created more th ...

, who headed the sculpture department at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

. They are called ''Mother'' and ''Pilgrim''.

Notable interments

* Victims of the SS ''Eastland'' shipwreck (1915). *

Anton Cermak Anton Joseph Cermak (May 9, 1873 – March 6, 1933) was an American politician who served as the 44th Mayor of Chicago from April 7, 1931, until his death in 1933. He was killed by Giuseppe Zangara, whose likely target was President-elec ...

, Chicago mayor assassinated in 1933. * Otto Kerner, Sr., (1952) judge and former

Illinois Attorney General The Illinois attorney general is the highest legal officer of the state of Illinois in the United States. Originally an appointed office, it is now an office filled by statewide election. Based in Chicago and Springfield, the attorney general ...

. *

Elsie Paroubek Eliška "Elsie" Paroubek (1906 – April 8, 1911) was an American girl who was a victim of kidnapping and murder in the spring of 1911. Her disappearance and the subsequent search for her preoccupied Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota law enfor ...

, (1911) a five-year-old kidnapping and murder victim whose story and photo in the ''

Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...

'' inspired

Henry Darger Henry Joseph Darger Jr. ( ; April 12, 1892 – April 13, 1973) was an American writer, novelist and artist who worked as a hospital janitor, custodian in Chicago, Illinois. He has become famous for his posthumously recovered 15,145-page manuscri ...

's novel ''The Story of the Vivian Girls''. * Charles J. Vopicka, (1935) U.S. ambassador to several eastern European countries. *

Wanda Stopa Wanda Elaine Stopa (May 5, 1900 – April 25, 1924) was a Polish-American lawyer and murderer who committed suicide the day after committing her crime. Life Stopa was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1900. She emigrated to the United States with h ...

, (1924) Chicago's youngest and first woman assistant U.S. district attorney.

Chicago Cubs columbarium

In 2009, the cemetery added a columbarium specially dedicated to

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

fans.Drehs, Wayne.
For some fans, Cubs are an undying love
.

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Chicago. April 23, 2009. Retrieved on January 25, 2010. The structure is a replica of

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

's red brick wall, with a stained glass image of the stadium's scoreboard and a yellow 400 foot (120 m) marker. The wall contains 288 niches, and seats from Wrigley Field have been placed along its base. A Cubs fan named Dennis Mascari helped raise funds for the project in hopes of making visits to the cemetery less depressing. The cemetery agreed to let him build the columbarium on their grounds, but nixed a plan to broadcast Cubs games through a nearby speaker. The Cubs themselves were not directly involved with the project; Mascari worked with Eternal Images, which makes baseball-themed funerary products.

References

External links

*
Friends of Bohemian National Cemetery
*
Images of the cemetery
at Graveyards.com {{Chicago Cubs Cemeteries in Chicago Czech-American history Czech-American culture in Chicago National Register of Historic Places in Chicago Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois 1877 establishments in Illinois Chicago Cubs North Park, Chicago Cemeteries established in the 1870s