Describing Graceland Cemetery requires delving into the history of Chicago. The most notable Chicagoans are buried at Graceland Cemetery and they were wealthy enough to hire architects and artists to design where their earthly remains would reside. From one end of Graceland to the other includes the most influential people who have shaped the city that we know today. Here is a short list of who is who at Graceland. As a side note the reason that I photographed the cemetery is because my mother-in-law, Barbara Lewis was taking a history class at Loyola University in 1980 and needed photos for a slide show. Cue a future daughter-in-law with a camera and viola! She was an amazing woman, and I miss her to this very day in April 2026!
BE SURE TO LOOK AT THE 2ND TO THE LAST PHOTO WITH THE CHEVY CORVETTE IN FRONT OF THE HOYT MONUMENT!
BE SURE TO LOOK AT THE 2ND TO THE LAST PHOTO WITH THE CHEVY CORVETTE IN FRONT OF THE HOYT MONUMENT!
- Dexter Graves – Early Chicago settler and pioneer.
- John Kinzie – Early settler and Chicago’s first mayor.
- Potter Palmer – Developer and philanthropist.
- George Pullman – Railroad car manufacturer.
- Cyrus Hall McCormick – Inventor of the mechanical reaper.
- Daniel Burnham – Civic planner and architect.
- Charles Wacker – Builder and civic leader.
- Marshall Field – Retailing magnate.
- Martin Ryerson – Lumber merchant and developer.
- Victor Lawson – Newspaper publisher.
- Phillip D. Armour – Meat packer and industrialist.
- Carter Harrison, Sr. – Five‑term Chicago mayor.
- John Root, William Holabird, Louis Sullivan, Howard Van Doren Shaw, William LeBaron Jenney, Mies Van der Rohe – Renowned architects.
© Diane Alexander White PHOTOGRAPHY