From some postings on Reddit, I learned that they’ve opened it up during tours for people to look inside. It was used to temporarily store bodies in the winter months when the ground was frozen so hard it was difficult to dig. It was a project undertaken by author/historian Steven Stroud, who died in April 2019.īCC’s large receiving tomb was built in 1903, that date is at the top. But when the foundation for Channing School was dug in 1968, many remains surfaced during the digging and were brought to Bluff City for re-burial in a common grave.Ī black granite marker now memorializes those souls that were once left behind. That cemetery was officially closed in 1945 and two years later, the city declared all remains had been removed. I learned that if there were no family members to pay the cost of moving the graves back in the 1880s, the remains stayed at Channing. So when you see a grave marker with a date before that, be aware that they used to be at the Channing Street Cemetery. ![]() ![]() I think that 72,000 burials figure is a capacity number since Find a Grave lists about 32,000 actual memorials. This picture of the Bluff City Cemetery gates was taken by the Elgin History Museum, when weather conditions were much more pleasant than the day I visited.īecause the Channing Street Cemetery was reaching capacity, they moved the graves from there to the new Bluff City Cemetery, which currently covers 108 acres and contains more than 72,000 burials (according to Elgin’s web site). I should add that the city of Elgin itself is located in adjacent Kane County while BCC is located in Cook County, Ill. Albert Marckhofff, the first sextant, laid out the first 12 sections, planted the trees and improved the land. ![]() The land for BCC was formerly owned by the Gifford family and then the Whitcomb Family. Before that, the Channing Street Cemetery located nearby had been the site of local burials. Located about 40 miles west of Chicago, Elgin’s Bluff City Cemetery (BCC) has an interesting background because it is the third municipal cemetery in Elgin’s history. It was a cold day with occasional flurries but the roads were in great shape for a driver like me not used to icy conditions. After I finished visiting Walter at his studio, I was ready to head to nearby Bluff City Cemetery.
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