Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park in Cook County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Haymarket Martyrs' Monument
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 6, 2025
1. Haymarket Martyrs' Monument Marker, Side One
The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today.
[Plaque on the rear:]
These charges are of a personal character, and while they seem to be sustained by the record of the trial and the papers before me and tend to show that the trial was not fair, I do not care to discuss this feature of the case any farther, because it is not necessary. I am convinced that it is clearly my duty to act in this case for the reasons already given, and I, therefore, grant an absolute pardon to Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe and Michael Schwab this 26th day of June, 1893.
John P. Altgeld
Governor of Illinois.
[Names on the rear of the base:]
Michael Schwab, Died June 29, 1898 Oscar Neebe, Died April 22, 1916 Samuel Fielden, Died February 7, 1922 August Spies Adolph Fischer Albert R. Parsons Louis Lingg George Engel
Erected 1893 by The Pioneer Aid and Support Association.
Topics and series. This historical marker and monument is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Disasters • Labor Unions. In addition,
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Location. 41° 52.188′ N, 87° 49.187′ W. Marker is in Forest Park, Illinois, in Cook County. It is in Forest Home Cemetery. It can be reached from Des Plaines Avenue 0.4 miles south of Eisenhower Expressway (Interstate 290), on the right when traveling south. The memorial is in Section N of Forest Home Cemetery, about 250 yards from the cemetery's main entrance off Des Plaines Avenue. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 863 Des Plaines Avenue, Forest Park IL 60130, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker and monument is in Greater Chicago. It is also 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 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: A different marker also named Haymarket Martyrs Monument
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 6, 2025
2. Haymarket Martyrs' Monument, plaque on rear
More about this marker. Commissioned by the Pioneer Aid and Support Association and designed by German-born sculptor Albert Weinart, this 16-foot-tall memorial inside Forest Home Cemetery features a statue of the female figure of Justice. It is dedicated in honor of the eight men and in particular the five who died (four by hanging, one by suicide) convicted of the May 4, 1886, bombing of a labor rally in Chicago's Haymarket Square.
The text on the front of the memorial is attributed to one of those who died, August Spies, who is reported to have said it right before his death by hanging on November 11, 1887. The plaque at the top of the rear of
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 6, 2025
3. Haymarket Martyrs' Monument, names on rear
Seven of the eight men listed on the memorial are buried nearby.
The memorial was unveiled a little more than seven years after the affair, on June 25, 1893, in front of 8,000 people at Forest Home Cemetery; incidentally, Altgelds pardon was the next day.
Seven of the eight men who are named on the back of this memorial are buried at or near this spot at Forest Home; Samuel Fielden moved to Colorado after his pardon and is buried in La Veta, about 175 miles south of Denver.
A 1997 plaque honoring the monument's designation as a National Historic Landmark is next to the memorial. The memorial is one of two sites in Forest Home Cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The gravesite of Joseph Carter Corbin, a pioneer in Black education who founded what is today known as the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, was added to the NRHP in 2023.
Memorials to the Haymarket Affair have some history of their own; this particular one, while perhaps the best known, was actually the second erected in memory of the event. The very first, a statue of a policeman holding up his hand,
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 6, 2025
4. Haymarket Martyrs' Monument
Regarding Haymarket Martyrs' Monument. On May 4, 1886, in Chicago's Haymarket Square west of downtown, a labor rally in favor of an eight-hour workday became deadly when someone threw dynamite at police officers trying to break up the demonstration. Police and protesters then exchanged gunfire before the square was completely emptied. Ultimately, between the bombing and the gunfire, at least 11 people had died, including seven police officers, and many more were injured in what was would come to be known the Haymarket Riot, Haymarket Massacre or Haymarket Affair (depending on the source).
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 6, 2025
5. Haymarket Martyrs' Monument
A side view showing the rear of the memorial
Eight anarchists were arrested and charged with the bombing. Questions remain to this day about who built the bomb and who threw it; it is believed that no more than two of the eight men were at Haymarket Square when the bombing happened. In any case, all eight were convicted after a lengthy and notorious trial, with seven sentenced to death by hanging and one to life in prison. Louis Lingg committed suicide while in prison; August Spies, Adolph Fischer, Albert R. Parsons and George Engel were hanged on November 11, 1887. Two other accused men, Michael Schwab and Samuel Fielden, had their sentences commuted to life in prison by Illinois Governor Ricahrd Oglesby; those two men and Oscar Neebe were pardoned by Governor John P. Altgeld in 1893. Part of the text of Altgelds pardon is on a plaque on the rear of the memorial.
The Haymarket Martyrs Monument was commissioned by the Pioneer Aid and Support Association, an organization formed to provide for the families of the dead men. After they acquired lots at Waldheim Cemetery (which later became part of Forest Home), artist Albert Weinert won a contest to create the design. According
M. Umbdenstock & Co., Chicago; courtesy of Chicago History Museum (ICHi-019692), 1887
6. Portraits of the seven men convicted for the Haymarket Affair
This souvenir card has the title "The First Dynamite Bomb Thrown in America." The men pictured are Louis Lingg, George Engel, Adolph Fischer, August Spies, Michael Schwab, Albert R. Parsons and Samuel Fielden. Engel, Fischer, Parsons and Spies all were executed by hanging; Lingg committed suicide in jail. Schwab and Fielden were pardoned by Illinois Governor John Altgeld in 1893.
The memorial was dedicated on June 25, 1893, the day before Altgelds pardon; Lingg and the four men hanged for the affair are buried here, as are two of the three men who were pardoned.
The area around this memorial remains a prominent pilgrimage site for the labor movement and a burial location for some of its prominent figures. According to The Day Will Come, close to 100 notable people in the labor movement are buried near the memorial, and at least two dozen more have had their ashes spread at the site. Since 1971, the memorial has been maintained by the Illinois Labor History Society.
Also see . . .
1. National Park Service: Haymarket Martyr's Monument.
Excerpt: "The two-month trial is still notorious today, with all seven men found guilty and sentenced to hang, and one sentenced to(Submitted on March 6, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)15 years of hard labor, on little to no evidence. Parsons and three others (Adolph Fischer, George Engel, and August Spies) were hanged on November 11, 1887, and Lingg was found dead in his cell. Fielden and Michael Schwabs sentences were changed to life in prison. In June of 1893, new Illinois governor John P. Altgeld pardoned the remaining three men, condemning the trial as a miscarriage of justice.Photographed by Daniel Eisenberg7. Haymarket Martyrs Monument's National Historic Landmark markerThe marker is in front and to the left of the memorial itself.
"Due to the Haymarket Affair, the American Federation of Labor recommended that May 1 be set aside as International Labor Day.
"Those who died after the trial are known by labor historians as the Haymarket Martyrs."
2. What Happened at Haymarket?. An article about recent research into the Haymarket Affair. (Submitted on March 6, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)
Paul J. Morand, artist; courtesy of Chicago History Museum (ICHi-003680)
8. "Battle after explosion of bomb at Haymarket Square"
This lithograph depicts the events of May 4, 1886, when seven policemen and four protesters were killed by a bomb during a labor rally at Haymarket Square on Chicago's west side.
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, May 1, 2025
9. Emma Goldman
More than 100 figures in the labor and anarchist movements are buried near the Haymarket Martyrs' Monument at Forest Home Cemetery. Among them is Emma Goldman, the Lithuanian-born activist who was drawn to the anarchist movement after the trial of the activists accused of the Haymarket Square bombing. Among many other things a famous lecturer in the early 1900s, Goldman was arrested in 1917 for opposing the draft for World War I and deported two years later to Russia. In exile for the rest of her life, she died in Canada in May 1940 (not 1939, as stated on her gravestone). After her death, the U.S. government allowed for her remains to be brought to Forest Home to be buried near the Haymarket Martyrs' Monument.
Credits. This page was last revised on October 3, 2025. It was originally submitted on March 6, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 589 times since then and 129 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on March 6, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 6. submitted on May 3, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 7. submitted on March 28, 2018, by Daniel Eisenberg of Boca Raton, Florida. 8. submitted on March 6, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 9. submitted on May 30, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.
