St. Johannes Cemetery is in the way of expansion plans at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. (Chicago Tribune photo by Chuck Berman / July 2, 2009)
In what will likely involve some lengthy court battles, a cemetery in Bensenville, Illinois has been condemned to make room for the expansion of O’Hare International Airport. St. Johannes Cemetery, owned by the United Church of Christ, which was founded in 1849 will be removed to make way for several new runways and a western terminal to ease congestion at the Chicago Airport. There are some lawsuits pending that will probably hold the process up for some time, but they are not likely to succeed, as other similar suits in Illinois have not held up in court.
This is an interesting example of how sometimes our ancestors might fall off the map. I can imagine a researcher looking through death certificates and finding that their great-great grandfather was buried at this cemetery in the 1850’s. How would they know that his remains were moved elsewhere? Is there a public record of where these persons are being moved? The city is going to pay the expense for relatives to move their deceased loved ones. What happens if living relatives cannot be found for some of these people? How is that handled?
Here is the satellite view of the cemetery. As you can see, it is quite close to the existing airport…
Visit St. Johannes Cemetery’s page on FindaGrave.com
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Update: as the first comment below states, there has been a court order put in place to prevent the removal of any more graves from this cemetery.
Thanks for following this. I have family in this cemetery.
Update: Court order stops grave removal near O’Hare http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7284297
I have a twitter account for this at:
SaveStJohannes
http://www.twitter.com/savestjohannes
Another most interesting story! Thanks for sharing; and the update!
Thanks guys. It will be interesting to see what the next steps are now that there is a court order halting the disinterments.
I have ancestors in Ridgewood Cemetery on 1900 Lawrence Street and at Union Ridge Cemetery at 6700 West Higgins, Chicago. I found out that my ancestral home which was on 5100 Avondale Drive in Jefferson Park, Chicago became part of the freeway! I am glad that they are paying attention to the potential loss of this cemetery and too bad it was too late for Avondale drive! Does Chicago have any historic preservation organization? Just curious.
Chicago has a Historical preservation commission, but you have to remember, this is Chicago politics, and what Mayor Daley wants, Mayor Daley gets. This is the guy who ordered Meigs Field demolished in the middle of the night so that noone would know what was going on until it was too late. I would like to think that the cemetery is safe, but knowing Mayor Daley, I know better.