St. Henry's Church Cemetery
1929 W Devon Ave. Chicago, IL 60660
Prominently placed up on the ridge, St. Henry’s Church became a landmark for immigrants from Luxembourg and Germany seeking to settle with their communities in the farmland along Ridge Avenue. At its founding three acres were set aside for a cemetery. St. Henry’s Cemetery is a simple, functional, open space with only few large monuments that is well suited to the needs of conservative immigrants farming the land north of the city. St. Henry’s is the antithesis of the architecturally notable Graceland Cemetery, three miles and several social classes away.
St. Henry’s is typical of the common parish churchyard and distinctly different from the park-like cemeteries emerging in the early- to mid-19th century. Large, nondenominational and usually private, cemeteries such as Graceland Cemetery in Chicago and Mount Auburn Cemetery near Boston were being designed by landscape architects to provide tranquil, natural spaces for the monuments of prominent citizens and to serve as a respite for city residents to the crowded urban conditions of the time. These wooded, park-like cemeteries are considered the beginning of the public parks and gardens movement in the United States. Source: West Ridge/Rogers Park Historical Society documents. Cynthia Anderson |
St. Henry's Church and Cemetery
Photo Credit: Cynthia Anderson |