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
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Disasters • Parks & Recreational Areas. 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. Marker 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. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 15 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. 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 (a few steps from this marker); Veterans Memorial (approx. 0.3
this page online
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 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 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
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.
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 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 . . .
1. The Chicago Fire Burials. An article about the
Photographed By Sean Flynn
3. 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.
Excerpt: “'The loss of life in the fire was estimated as not less than three hundred, and the bodies of the dead, as far as they could be found, were put in the county burial ground'(Submitted on May 3, 2024, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)
Reference J. Seymour Currer Volume two, 1912"
2. Grave Mistake-the Story of Cook County Cemetery at Dunning. 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 Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)
Photographed By Chicago History Museum (ICHi-063773)
4. 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."
Credits. This page was last revised on May 3, 2024. It was originally submitted on May 2, 2024, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 71 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on May 2, 2024, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 3, 4. submitted on May 3, 2024, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.
