Wunder's Cemetery

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Wunder's Cemetery Soundex Code C536

3963 N. Clark Street

Originally known as German Lutheran Cemetery, Wunder's Cemetery was founded in 1859. In 1912 it was incorporated as the German Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery Association. On Sunday, October 19, 1919, it was renamed Wunder's Cemetery Association to honor the memory of Heinrich Wunder, pastor for sixty-two years of First St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1301 N. LaSalle Drive. Dr. Wunder had taken the initiative to establish a cemetery. First St. Paul's operated Wunder's Cemetery jointly with First Immanuel Lutheran Church until the 1980's when Fist Paul's became the sole trustee.

In the autumn of 1858 Chicago Citizens circulated a petition to halt burials in the Chicago City Cemetery (located in present day Lincoln Park) because of concern about residential expansion into adjacent areas. This led to the cessation of the sale of burial plots in May 1859, followed by the cemetery's closing and the removal of bodies to cemeteries outside of the city limits after 1866. This necessitated the establishment of new cemeteries outside of Chicago or in areas which were separate towns until annexation by Chicago. The Township of Lake View was named for the inn located on the northwest corner of Byron Street and Sheridan Road, which provided refreshments for mourners prior to their return to Chicago.

Wunder's Cemetery is located on fourteen and a half acres bounded by Irving Park Road (formerly Albert and Graceland Roads) on the north, Clark Street (formerly Green Bay Road) on the west, Seminary Avenue (formerly Stella Street) and Jewish Graceland Cemetery) on the south. Wunder's Cemetery sits atop an ancient sandy beach ridge that provides good drainage and easy excavation. Both Green Bay Road and the old Lake Shore Plank Road (now Broadway) provided convenient transportation from Chicago, especially after 1870 when the streetcar ran up Broadway and across Irving Park Road to the entrances of Graceland Cemetery and Wunder's Cemetery.