Dunning in Chicago in Cook County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Unidentified Victims of the 1871 Chicago Fire

Photographed by Sean Flynn, May 2, 2024

1. Unidentified Victims of the 1871 Chicago Fire Marker

Inscription. After the Great Fire of 1871, the county set up a temporary morgue on Milwaukee Avenue. One hundred and seventeen unclaimed, unidentified victims were taken from the county morgue and interred on this site.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Disasters • Parks & Recreational Areas. In addition, it is included in the The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 series list. A significant historical date for this entry is October 8, 1871.

Location. 41° 57.315′ N, 87° 47.464′ W. Marker is in Chicago, Illinois, in Cook County. It is in Dunning. It can be reached from West Belle Plaine Avenue near North Neenah Avenue. The memorial is in Read Dunning Memorial Park. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Chicago IL 60634, United States of America.

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Regionally, this marker is in the American Midwest

and on the Great Lakes.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

and the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least 15 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Civil War Veterans (here, next to this marker); Cook County Cemetery at Dunning — 1854 (here, next to this marker); Unknown and Itinerant Poor of Cook County (here, next to this marker); The Cook County Insane Asylum (here, next to this marker); The Sick and Infirm at Dunning (a few steps from this marker); Cook County Poorhouse (a few steps from this marker); Orphaned and Abandoned Infants and Children

Memorials to the people buried in this cemetery image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean Flynn, May 2, 2024

2. Memorials to the people buried in this cemetery

The marker is one of seven in Read Dunning Memorial Park.

(a few steps from this marker); Veterans Memorial (approx. 0.3 miles away); Read-Dunning Cemetery No. 3 (approx. 0.3 miles away); Wright College Prairie Garden (approx. 0.4 miles away); a different marker also named Wright College Prairie Garden (approx. 0.4 miles away); 9/11 Memorial (approx. 0.4 miles away); Henry Horner (approx. 0.7 miles away); 09.11.2001 (approx. 0.9 miles away); Location of the 1st Tee at Irving Golf Club (approx. 0.9 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Chicago.

More about this marker. The marker is one of eight that surround an 1884 dedication stone in the center of this park. The park features seven concrete circles dedicated to seven groups spread across the 3 acres, each circle representing a group referenced on one of the circle of markers. While these

The entrance to Read Dunning Memorial Park image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean Flynn, May 2, 2024

3. The entrance to Read Dunning Memorial Park

markers were originally intended to be at each of the circles, it's not certain whether the markers were ever there at all, or if they were moved at a later time.

Regarding Unidentified Victims of the 1871 Chicago Fire. The Great Chicago Fire is believed to have killed about 300 people, although the exact number is unknown and may have been higher or lower. About 120 people who could not be identified were brought to Dunning, which is about eight miles northwest of the most heavily burned districts.

Overall, more than 38,000 people are believed to have been buried in potter's fields, called Cook County Cemetery, that cover an area roughly bounded on the south by Irving Park Road, on the north and west by Harlem Avenue and Forest Preserve Drive, on the north by Montrose Avenue, and on the east by Narragansett

Victims of the 1871 Chicago Fire image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean Flynn

4. Victims of the 1871 Chicago Fire

Seven concrete circles like this one are spread throughout the 3-acre memorial park, each identifying one of the sets of victims referenced on the plaques. This one, in the southern end of the park, is dedicated to 100+ victims of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 who are buried here.

Avenue. In the 1930s, Cook County extended Oak Park Avenue through these unmarked gravesites, and they went largely forgotten until the 1980s, when developers building new homes in the area accidentally unearthed human remains in the neighborhood. This 3-acre park was the culmination of more than a decade's worth of efforts by local citizens and amateur historians, who pieced together the story of this cemetery after the discovery of the remains and sought a place to honor those who had been buried here.

Improvements to Oak Park Avenue (about a third of a mile west of here as the crow flies) in the mid-2010s brought this graveyard back in the public memory as more remains were found, as did the 2018 building of a new school on Oak Park Avenue.

Also see . . . Grave Mistake-the Story of Cook County Cemetery at Dunning.

View of the Chicago Fire at Night image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Chicago History Museum (ICHi-063773)

5. View of the Chicago Fire at Night

Caption for this painting, from the Chicago History Museum: "View of the Chicago Fire of 1871 at night under full moon, Chicago, Illinois."

A reprint of a 1989 article in the Chicago Reader looking at the history of the Cook County Cemetery and how developers in the 1980s bumped into the nearly forgotten graves on Chicago's northwest side.

Excerpt: "Nowhere else in the country has a cemetery with hundreds or thousands of graves been so nearly forgotten that a developer had to rediscover it by accident. 'It is a very unusual situation,' says assistant city corporation counsel Nancy Marin, with characteristic understatement."

(Submitted on May 3, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

Credits. This page was last revised on September 16, 2025. It was originally submitted on May 2, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 1,364 times since then and 57 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on May 2, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 3, 4, 5. submitted on May 3, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.