Massive Monuments

One of the things I enjoy the most about Graceland is the different takes on the afterlife. From cremated urns to large mausoleums, impressive statues, or just the low lying rectangular markers that simply state a person’s name. Our understanding and opinions of death changes over time. Our wealth and status in life also influence how our lives will be represented at the graveyard. But be sure, no matter how large the monument, no one escapes death.

Though Graceland is a cemetery for all people, a lot of its fame comes from the massive monuments that circumnavigate the serene pond nearby you. Surrounding you now are several historic figures and their impressive monuments proclaiming their wealth and influence – but mostly their wealth. This tall pyramid belongs to the Peter Schoenhofen family. Note the various religious symbols he chose in the design, mostly of Egyptian Revival style with some touches of Christian elements as well. As a known atheist in his life, he was really throwing everything at the wall to see what stuck. Schoenhofen, he was an esteemed brewer in Chicagoland. He operated what became the Peter Schoenhofen Brewing Company, which is still standing today in the Schoenhofen Brewery Historic District in Chicago’s Lower West Side.  

Catty-corner to the Schoenhofen pyramid is the large George Pullman monument for the railroad tycoon, so despised in life he required his tomb be buried deep underground and encased in concrete and railroad ties. You see, Pullman had made his fortune through his own ingenuity and on the backs of his blue color workforce. Pullman was famous for developing a technique of raising buildings which was very useful during the raising of the city of Chicago in the 1850s and ’60s. The grade level – not much higher than the surface of Lake Michigan – and all the buildings in downtown Chicago were tremendously raised a little of 6 feet to aid in water drainage. Pullman also invented the Pullman Sleeper car for the locomotive industry. For his employees, created his own town, Pullman, where his workforce lived, worked, and played. But following economic struggles near the end of the 19th-Century, Pullman cut his workers’ wages substantially without lowering the price of rent in the Pullman town. This triggered the infamous Pullman strike of 1894. George Pullman died a hated man, famous for his engineering and his cruelty to the lower class.

Photo by Mitchell J. Ward, 2021.