Will County's Historic Landmarks
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Historic Landmark Registry - German Baptist Society Cemetery |
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Union Cemetery is located in the heart of Green Garden Township, at the corner of Manhattan-Monee Road and 80th Ave. The cemetery is significant for a number of reasons which include its contribution to local history, suitability for preservation, and potential to yield important archaeological information. Many of Green Garden’s prominent residents were laid to rest in this cemetery. The property contains markers of various periods in a range of conditions. Graves date from the mid-19th century to the late 20th century. Those who were laid to rest in this cemetery include many of Green Garden’s early settlers as well as veterans of various wars including the Civil War, World War II, and Korean War.
Green Garden Township has been known as a rural and close-knit community since 1853 when it became recognized as separate from the Village of Manhattan and Trenton Township. The earliest inhabitants were mostly farming families of German descent. Often neighbors lived quite a distance away from one another, yet they succeeded in creating a sense of community within Green Garden Township through their commitment to the land and to one another. These agricultural families were often linked together through common religious beliefs.
Churches and religious societies provided a foundation for which early community interaction could be built upon. The German Baptist Society was one such Green Garden religious society. The Society was established in 1855. The German Baptist Society built their church and parsonage adjacent to the cemetery around 1861. The church’s foundation still exists in a thicket of trees near the cemetery. There are several markers showing that the cemetery predates these buildings.
The cemetery, as it exists to today, contains over one hundred (100) headstones that date as early as the 1860s.
The continued use and maintenance of the property as a cemetery will guarantee the survival of material evidence and information about the early settlement of Green Garden Township.
The Union Cemetery was designated a Will County landmark on October 17, 2002.
Historic Name: The German Baptist Society Cemetery
Common Name: The Union Cemetery Location: Green Garden Township
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