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Original Cemetery donated to the village by Joel Wood. The earliest gravestone dates to 1854. The Hillside Cemetery Association was formed in 1946 and Palatine Township took over the cemetery in 1996.
The gate opens on Smith Street north of Colfax Street. There was formerly another, smaller opening south of the main gate, now closed off with the fencing.
The first 18 plots are to the left of the entrance gate and are a potter’s field, also known as a pauper’s field for unknown people or the poor who cannot afford a plot. Most do not have stones or the exact location not known.
The Hillside Cemetery cannon does not have a clear history. It was probably made shortly after the Civil War and used by the Grand Army of the Republic for reunions or memorials. It originally was attached to metal axle between wooden wheels with a wooden bar to be harnessed to horses. For many years in the 19th century the cannon was in Railroad Park near the old downtown train station. It was given to the Women’s Relief Corps and moved to Hillside Cemetery next to the flag pole and unknown soldiers’ monument erected by the GAR. We do know that for some time the Haemker family would fire the cannon once every year at the start of the Decoration Day parade that went from Union Cemetery to Hillside Cemetery. After some time the wheels rotted and fell and a concrete base was made to hold the cannon. The cement was cracking and the paint was peeling on the cannon. This June the cannon was restored by Dennis R. Becker, a member of the Sons of the American Legion.
The GAR was formed on April 6, 1866, in Decatur, Illinois. Membership was limited to honorarily discharged Union veterans of the Civil War. It had an elected commander-in-chief and numbered community level posts.
The organization founded soldiers’ homes, was active in relief work for its members, and army pension legislation, among other things. In 1868, Commander-in-Chief John Logan ordered May 30th to be set apart to honor fallen comrades. This was the beginning of the Memorial Day holiday. Communities with or without a GAR post began having parades, memorial services in churches, and placing flags/flowers on soldiers’ graves. The rubia plena, a red peony became the customary flower to plant on those graves as it generally blooms at the end of May. The GAR ended in 1956 when its last member died at the age of 109 years. The official successor to the GAR is the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. The GAR also erected monuments to its soldiers as well as buying plots in cemeteries to bury soldiers who had no one to bury them properly. Hillside Cemetery in Palatine has a small GAR plot. At a recent meeting, the Palatine Township Cemetery talked about the fact that people don’t know there is a GAR plot here and that something should be done. It was decided that the red peonies should be planted on it. How to properly mark the plot will be discussed at a future meeting. That brings me to the photo displayed here. Ruben Cuellar planted the six red peonies along the top of the GAR plot just a few days before the first frost. The peonies were paid for by the Palatine Historical Society.
This cemetery is located on 375 North Smith Street, Palatine, Cook County, Illinois.