Graceland Cemetery: Chicago Stories, Symbols, and Secrets

3 Fields Books

by Adam Selzer

Chosen for the 2024 Illinois Reads Program by the Illinois Reading Council One of Chicago’s landmark attractions, Graceland Cemetery chronicles the city’s sprawling history through the stories of its people. Local historian and Graceland tour guide Adam Selzer presents ten walking tours covering almost the entirety of the cemetery grounds. While nodding to famous Graceland figures from Marshall Field to Ernie Banks to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Selzer also leads readers past the vaults, obelisks, and other markers that call attention to less recognized Chicagoans Filled with photographs and including detailed maps of each tour route, Graceland Cemetery is an insider's guide to one of Chicago's great outdoor destinations for city lore and history.

Genres: History

318 pages, Paperback

Published August 9, 2022

About the author

Adam Selzer blocked Goodreads on his computer for years but now he's on here, so let him have it. His first book was HOW TO GET SUSPENDED AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE (now available in a "Now With More Swearing") edition, his next one is PLAY ME BACKWARDS (for satanic young adults), and his best known is probably I KISSED A ZOMBIE AND I LIKED IT, a Twilight satire that was not marketed as a satire.

He also writes the SMART ALECK'S GUIDE series and has published a bunch of Chicago history/ghostlore books.

You can also find him under the name SJ Adams, the name he used for SPARKS: THE EPIC, COMPLETELY TRUE BLUE (ALMOST) HOLY QUEST OF DEBBIE, which won a Stonewall honor and made the YALSA popular paperback list.

Reviews

[David Eppenstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that may only appeal to people from the Chicago area or those with a particular interest in the history of Chicago. As a resident of the Chicago area with a definite interest in Chicago history this book was a no brainer for me. Chicago has a history like no other American city and to say that it is colorful would be an understatement of major proportions. If you should ever wish to delve into the sordid, corrupt, humorous, and incredible history of this unique city I can recommend a couple of really good books. The first book to consider is Fabulous Chicago by Emmett Dedmon. This book is to be read for its colorful portrayal of Chicago in the last half of the 19th century and the early 20th. If people think Chicago is dangerous now this book will put things in perspective. For a more scholarly history then you can't go wrong with Donald Miller's City of the Century where you will learn how the mountains of New York state deserve a great deal of credit for making Chicago the Second city instead of St. Louis. The book I just finished, however, is an entirely different sort of history from either of my recommendations.

Graceland Cemetery is probably Chicago's pantheon and if you ever visit this city it should be on your list of places not to be missed. The people buried there run the gamut of famous to infamous and several shades in between. What this book offers the reader is a selection of thumbnail biographies of some of the more noteworthy of the cemetery's residents as well as functioning as a guide for those who wish to visit the cemetery. In addition to biographies the author also meanders into the side stories in which the deceased may or may not have been involved. The stories the author offers are a very small glimpse into the colorful history of Chicago and life in earlier times. He also lavishly illustrates the cemetery with black and white photographs of many of the monuments and the monuments alone are worth the visit. Seeing how Potter and Bertha Palmer of Palmer House fame have been laid to rest gives going out in style a new frame of reference. But then you'd have to read the stories of the lengths the family of George Pullman of Pullman railroad car fame went to to insure his body wasn't dug up and desecrated by former employees and union supporters. One story I read said the grave could withstand a nuclear bomb attack. But you might want to know just who are some of the people buried there.

This being Chicago then it should be expected that our most notable architects are all there except Wright and nobody knows where Olgivanna buried her husband but it wasn't in that grave in Spring Green, Wisconsin. At Graceland you will find Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, Mies Van Der Rohe, John Welborn Root, William LeBaron Jenny and more. You will also find Cyrus McCormick, Allan Pinkerton, Lazlo Moholy Nagy, Ernie Banks, Jack Johnson, and Charles Dickens' brother William are all there along with many more. Bet you didn't know Dickens had a brother William did you? Neither did I but he lived here after leaving England with the pregnant daughter of a wealthy merchant or a member of English nobility, so the story goes and there are lots of stories to be told about the people in this cemetery and this city. Enjoy.

[Mer Fenton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly learned so much in this book and there was so much more I couldn’t take in on just one read through so I have a feeling I’ll keep returning to it

[Rick Pucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read.
Each grave or monument has a story inside this marvelous Cemetary in the heart of an international city. And such an array of characters. Many like Daniel Burnham ( who scored his own island, Pullman buried in Steel and concrete - just in case and Ernie Banks, the beloved Cubby - all surrounded by 2,000 unique trees in this official arboretum.

The photos were great, some chilling, like the one with the coyote seemingly guarding one of the graves. I've seen the coyotes in broad daylight when i visit. And of course, the Mysterious Angel of Death statue...and its story and myths.

Best of all, the author proves walking tours so you can use this book in a practical manner as your own personal guide.

Good stuff!!!

[Chet Slonina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam Selzer does a magnificent job with rich history, detail and facts that make Graceland come alive, no pun intended. This is a must read for Chicago History nuts. The book is well organized but to be read slowly to get the full taste of information given.

[Thomas Benziger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Find it very interesting detailing many prominent families were buried there and it’s beautiful cemetery where my paternal great grandparents were buried there.

[Annie Garvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to visit this cemetery often. I wish the book had more pictures.