Graceland may be Chicago‘s most famous cemetery, but the Hebrew Benevolent Society Cemetery (located nearby) is one of the city’s oldest. It’s the oldest existing Jewish cemetery in the city, founded in 1851. Entire sections of this beautiful tribute to the departed are overgrown and decaying. More than a few headstones are illegible--victims of time, neglect and vandalism and still others are missing. Historically important Chicagoans buried here include a Civil War colonel, Marcus Spiegel, and his wife, the first Chicagoan to be converted to Judaism and novelist Edna Ferber’s grandparents.
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Explore one of Chicago's oldest cemeteries on the North-side
Graceland may be Chicago‘s most famous cemetery, but the Hebrew Benevolent Society Cemetery (located nearby) is one of the city’s oldest. It’s the oldest existing Jewish cemetery in the city, founded in 1851. Entire sections of this beautiful tribute to the departed are overgrown and decaying. More than a few headstones are illegible--victims of time, neglect and vandalism and still others are missing. Historically important Chicagoans buried here include a Civil War colonel, Marcus Spiegel, and his wife, the first Chicagoan to be converted to Judaism and novelist Edna Ferber’s grandparents.
