Mount Emblem Cemetery - Cemetery Design

Cemetery Design

The administration building, along with the cemetery’s entrance gates and bridges, were designed to resemble English architecture of the 1860s, supposedly to “match” the styles used when the windmill was built; however, these copper and stone English structures only contrast with the Dutch woodwork of the mill. Since the cemetery's dedication in June 1936, the mill plays music on Sundays and holidays from loudspeakers in the third floor windows. It took eleven years for the architects of Simonds, West, & Blair to transform 75 acres (of what is now over 90 acres) of flat farmland into a picturesque, tranquil scene with tens of thousands of new trees and shrubs as well as the creation of Lake Emblem. Over the years, the Fischer Windmill became an historical local icon and the subject of artists’ paintings. In 1956 Mount Emblem was awarded for its preservation of the mill as a public service by the DuPage County Historical Society.

The cemetery itself opened as a Masonic Cemetery. It was heavily advertised in local newspspapers as "Illinois' Most Beautiful Cemetery; Without the Gates of the City." One of the other emblems of the cemetery is a monument of three pillars, symbolizing Faith, Hope, and Charity, located at the far west end. In later years, a mausoleum was constructed.

Most of the sections in the cemetery are crudely named for letters of the alphabet, but special sections are formally named. The "Garden of Eden" is that area directly in front of the windmill leading up to Lake Emblem, surrounded on either side by lilac bushes. The "Veneration" and "Twilight" sections are home to most of the monument graves. "Reverence" has the Veteran's Garden. "Eventide" is home to the mausoleum, lawn crypt, and eternal flame feature.