Are you a Chicagoan? How many times have you passed Clark Street at the South end of Lincoln Park and wondered what exactly is that old gray mausoleum that has been holding court for 158 years? Well … I’ve got answers that might surprise you.
The mausoleum says Couch in big letters on the front of it. For 158 years a parade of Chicagoans has proudly marched down Clark and LaSalle Avenues. And that same old grey structure greeted them at the entrance to Lincoln Park. But did anyone ever wonder where the mausoleum came from? Who is buried inside? Why a mausoleum is i in a city park? And the real kicker is that most people have no idea that a 158 year mausoleum is standing at the entrance to Lincoln Park.
Well, here’s a little clue for you. Lincoln Park Was once a cemetery. Yes, it’s true.
Ira Couch and Chicago first met in 1836. A year before Chicago was incorporated into a city. Ira Couch has been dead for 145 years
At one time the cemetery housed civil war solders at Camp Douglas. For the last half century Ira Couch’s old tomb has endured disrepair Basically, Chicago and Ira Couch fell for each other and she made him rich.
Today, although standing proudly, the old tomb is in disrepair. The wrought iron fence that once enclosed it was ripped down. Everyone else who had been around this mausoleum had been moved to other graveyards. Only Ira stayed on after the city transformed the land from a cemetery to a city park.
For the last half century, even years later, in 1960, a park official described the condition of the area around the tomb as a disgrace. Nothing much had changed. Its tomb was still lost behind bushes, graffiti and broken glass.
But In 1858, when it was built, the mausoleum was the talk of the town. It cost an astonishing seven thousand dollars to build and was designed to be the grandest mausoleum in all Chicago, a tribute to the Couch family that had made a fortune here in hotels and real estate.
Everyone who would know anybody who remembered anything was dead. There are no Couches left in Chicago. The answer to the question, who is buried there is this. Nobody knows.
So who was Ira Couch? Why is his tomb still in Lincoln Park?
Everyone who died in the city between 1842 and 1866 was buried there.
In 1859 the city ruled there would be no more burials in Lincoln Park except in those lots already purchased. It took years to empty the graves and move the bodies elsewhere. The process cost the city $2 million dollars. In 1871, during the Chicago Fire, frightened Chicagoans ran to the lake.
In 1899 the Peacock family mausoleum, located next to Couch Tomb was the last to go. The Couch mausoleum is just too massive to move. But Ira just couldn’t leave. And that is why the Couch’s mausoleum is still there. This is where he lives.