DeKalb Township operates the two oldest cemeteries located in the city
of DeKalb. Evergreen Cemetery at South 7th and East Taylor Streets dates
from 1855.. Oakwood (originally Oakland) was established in 1865 on the
west side of North 1st Street, behind where the First congregational
Church building of 1954 was constructed. Prior to the 1990's, both
cemeteries had long been administered by the Union Cemetery Association.
Russell Huntley is the recognized founder of DeKalb, arriving here in
1837. The coming of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad - later the
Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, now the Union Pacific Railroad - 1n 1853
led to the formal platting of the village which became DeKalb.
History records the fact that deaths were known to have occurred here
as early as 1837. As no cemeteries then existed in this area, it was
customary to bury the dead on their own property or at places where it was
safe to do so. Most such burials would later be moved to the early
cemeteries, although it is possible that the last resting places of some
of these pioneers may have been built over by other settlers as the years
went by. Burials are even said to have been made at locations in what is
today downtown DeKalb.
Evergreen Cemetery occupies a slightly raised site just south of
Roosevelt Street, the southern boundary of DeKalb. While the original
grounds were donated, it soon became impossible to acquire land for future
expansion. Among the noteworthy early settlers who lie at rest here are
farmers Benjamin Gurler and Elisha Foster, blacksmith Phineas Vaughan and
co-founder of DeKalb, Lewis Huntley. Vaughan is in a family plot, where
his blacksmith's anvil has marked his grave site since 1897.
Oakwood Cemetery is set back a generous distance from North 1st Street,
accessed via a long lane which also serves the parking lot of the
Congregational Church. Oakwood stood northwest of the city when it was
established, later being surrounded by barbed wire entrepreneur Isaac
Ellwoods' local land holdings. (Ellwood attempted unsuccessfully in the
1880's to relocate Oakwood.) In spite of how the church is in front of the
cemetery, they are totally separate entities.
Oakwood's natural setting, beneath a mantle of mature trees, makes for
an attractive scene. Among the historic figures at rest here are George
Gurler (115 year veteran of the Civil War), Dry Goods dealer H.H. Wagner,
Judge Harry McEwen and early Justice of the Peace Eli B. Gilbert (moved
here in 1952 from the old Pleasant Street Cemetery).
A number of persons originally buried in Oakwood were subserviently
moved from here to Fairview Cemetery after it began operations in 1902.
Some of those persons included Mrs. Joseph (Lucinda) Glidden, Hiram
Ellwood and Isaac Ellwood's 7 year old son Oakley who died in 1872.
The old Union Cemetery Association turned over all of its assets to
DeKalb Township in 1997, as their financial situation continued to
deteriorate. The Township and Springfield then worked to bring about the
actual legal transfer in ownership.
For a historic last resting place, consider Evergreen or Oakwood
Cemetery.
Written by prominent area historian, Steve Bigolin