Evergreen Cemetery (Bloomington, Illinois)

Evergreen Cemetery, in Bloomington, Illinois, is also known as Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.

The cemetery was originally two separate cemeteries, adjacent to each other. The first was the Bloomington Cemetery, founded in 1850 by the Bloomington Cemetery Association; the other was Evergreen Cemetery, founded in 1860. The Bloomington Cemetery was funded by city tax dollars, while Evergreen was privately funded and maintained. The website of the current cemetery claims Evergreen was founded in the early 1820s.[1]

Over the years, Evergreen suffered from vandalism and deterioration. Community action in the 1950s and 1960s forced the city of Bloomington to buy out the owners of Evergreen Cemetery in 1963, creating the merged Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.

The grounds of Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, which are maintained by staff and community members, include a Civil War burial section.

The McLean County Museum offers tours of the cemetery the last Saturday & Sunday of September and the first Saturday & Sunday of October. The Evergreen Cemetery Discovery Walk combines historical research by Museum volunteers, costumed actors from Illinois Voices Theatre, and Evergreen Memorial Cemetery into a week-long outdoor theatrical production. People who contributed to central Illinois’ colorful history are brought to life through costumed actors assuming the intriguing characters of McLean County’s ancestors. Presented is not only the "who's who" of McLean County but also the regular day-to-day voices from the past, people who have contributed to the growth, diversity and success of McLean County in unique and innovative ways.

Notable persons interred

David Davis — Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and United States Senator[1]
Ulysses F. Doubleday — U. S. Representative
Jesse Fell — founder of Illinois State University
Louis Fitzhenry — U. S. Representative
Benjamin F. Funk — U. S. Representative
Isaac Funk — Illinois State Senator
Dorothy Louise Gage — niece of L. Frank Baum's wife, Maud Gage Baum, and basis for Dorothy Gale in his book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz[1][2]
Asahel Gridley — Illinois State Senator
John McNulta — U. S. Representative
William W. Orme — Civil War General
Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn[1] — Major League Baseball player, member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
John M. Scott — Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois
Giles Alexander Smith — Civil War General
Adlai Stevenson I — Vice President of the United States[1]
Adlai Stevenson II — United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Governor of Illinois, Presidential Candidate
Thomas F. Tipton — U. S. Representative
Carl Vrooman — Assistant Secretary of Agriculture under President Woodrow Wilson

gollark: Currently they're *technically* separate but interact via horrifying global variables.

gollark: I should merge my combat and flight programs.

gollark: Yes.

gollark: /msg, not that it works for communicating with discord.

gollark: Hi.

References

"History". Bloomington, Illinois: Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. 2010-04-13. Archived from the original on 2013-03-16. Retrieved 2010-07-23.
Wills, Christopher (1982-10-06). "Dorothy's trip to Oz linked to baby's death". Indiana Gazette. Associated Press. p. 13. Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[eg-history-1] "History". Bloomington, Illinois: Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. 2010-04-13. Archived from the original on 2013-03-16. Retrieved 2010-07-23.

[Wills-2] Wills, Christopher (1982-10-06). "Dorothy's trip to Oz linked to baby's death". Indiana Gazette. Associated Press. p. 13. Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.