An Introduction to Oak Woods
Chartered on February 12, 1853, Oak Woods has remained a constant fixture of Hyde Park Township, as it has straddled rapidly changing histories of the Woodlawn and Grand Crossing neighborhoods. The cemetery has been the final resting place for a vast array of individuals who have shaped the history of the City of Chicago, and even the world. Five Chicago Mayors, including the 1st and 2nd Black Mayors, as well as 2 Nobel Prize winners, and a gold medal Olympian are among those buried at Oak Woods. Studying cemeteries like Oak Woods, provides us with a wealth of information about the people and events that influenced our community over the decades. Not only do we learn about what life was like for notable individual but we also are able to gather important social histories through the examination of the lives of ordinary people.
Through this project, we hope to provide both education and tools to shed light upon the history of Oak Woods Cemetery. Moreover, we hope to provide a deeper understanding of the way the cemetery has shaped the lives of both the living and the dead throughout it’s 150+ year history on the South Side of Chicago, as well as encourage you to ask critical questions about history and people.
Through digital and printable maps, newspaper articles, and photos we hope that the history of this cemetery will come alive and garner more interest and engagement from the public.
Oak Woods Cemetery is still an operating cemetery and place of internment. It located at 1035 East 67th Street, straddling both Woodlawn and Greater Grand Crossing neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side. The cemetery is just a few blocks southwest of Jackson Park, which was the stage of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
-May 19th, 1865, The Chicago Evening Journal-
This cemetery, held out for the more especial accommodation of the inhabitants of the South and West Divisions of the city, is now in condition for interments. There is a chapel and large receiving tomb on the premises. This cemetery is laid out after a design from Mr. Strauch, Superintendent of Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, and will be managed under regulations similar to those there adopted with so much success. The premises are situated due south of the city, on the east side of Cottage Grove avenue, about four miles south of the University of Chicago. The Hyde Park train runs within eighty rods of the grounds, and the accommodation train of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago railroad will run to the cemetery so as to accommodate funerals, as soon as its second track, which is now being laid down, shall be completed. For lots or interments application should be made to the Superintendent, Mr. Wm. Hadson, at the cemetery, or at the office, No. 1 Marine [Hank] Building, Chicago. The officers of the Association are: J. Young Scammon, President; Elliot Anthony, Vice President; M. A. Farwell, Treasurer; Paul Cornell, Secretary; M. Kirby, Surveyor; Hugh T. Dickey, H. H. Mason, W. M. McKindley, James H. Woodworth, Directors.