You might be tempted to whisper “I see dead people.”
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That’s because the graves of legendary Cubs announcer Jack Brickhouse, Oscar Mayer, ad exec Leo Burnett, Shedd Aquarium founder John Shedd and two retail giants—Richard Warren Sears and Aaron Montgomery Ward—sit yards away from a planned nature preserve. The 20-acre wooded site neighboring Rosehill Cemetery on the North Side will open to the public next summer.
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The list of prominent Chicagoans, along with soldiers, firefighters and political heavyweights such as former Chicago mayors, Illinois governors and one vice president, are buried at the cemetery, which is roughly bordered by Western, Peterson, Ravenswood and Bowmanville avenues.
A fence will separate the cemetery from the planned preserve, which has an entrance on Western Avenue at the northwest corner and was never developed for cemetery purposes. The land, which the city bought in 2011 for $7.8 million, will be turned into the West Ridge Nature Preserve featuring a nature trail that goes around a 4.5-acre pond and trees, rain garden, fishing stations and wildlife viewing areas.
The graveyard is the site of the annual Rosehill Cemetery Crypt 5K Run & Walk in October. Walking tours creep past the final resting places of Civil War and Chicago notables.
Last month, Mayor Emanuel broke ground at the nature preserve.
“Having been inaccessible for decades, this site, which forms a unique, natural landscape, will finally be opened for public appreciation,” Emanuel said in a news release. “Soon the barricades will be torn and it will be a place for families to enjoy nature, a place for children to learn about nature and a place for the fabric of this community to grow stronger every day.”
The $5 million restoration project, expected to be completed next summer, is funded by a $2.8 million federal grant, $700,000 in tax increment financing funds and the remaining $1.5 million from the park district, according to Pete Scales, spokesman for the city’s Department of Transportation, which is managing the project.
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