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Channing Street Cemetery "Old Cem" Timeline

To get a sense of the time period, Click the green + sign to see another event that occurred during the same year.

Year Event Historical
1843 James T. Gifford donates land for "Elgin Burying Ground" First wagon train heads west on the Oregon Trail
1844 Channing Street Cemetery surveyed and plated by Adin Mann, county surveyor James K. Polk wins election as 11th US President
1845 Channing designated as "a public burying ground" US President James K. Polk announces "Manifest Destiny"
1850 James T. Gifford, Elgin's founder, buried in Channing Street Cemetery Millard Fillmore sworn in as 13th US President
1876 Elgin Township Civil War monument erectided in Channing Street Cemetery Alexander Graham Bell gets telephone patent
1888 Bluff City Cemetery established Eastman Kodak founded by Georg Eastman
1889 Lot owners contacted and told to move family remains to Bluff City Cemetery Benjamin Harrison becomes 23rd US President
1906 New interments discontinued at Channing Wright Bros. patent the aeroplane
1910 Channing Street Cemetery becomes a weed infested field Boy Scouts of America founded
1915 Equipment re-landscapes area prior to remains being completely removed Worlds Fair opens in San Francisco
1920 Civil War monument moved to Bluff City Cemetery and Armistice Day services switched to Bluff City US ratifies 19th amendment, women's suffrage
1929 City expedited acquisition of Channing for public playground and park Stock market crash
1936 City seeks opinion from Illinois Attorney General concerning legal acquisition of Channing Hindenburg Disaster
1945 Channing Street Cemetery officially closed Franklin D. Roosevelt sworn in for 4th term as US President
1947 Removal of remains completed Jackie Robinson, first African-American in MLB
1949 Four acres in southeast section leveled in anticipation of park construction RCA introduces 45 RPM record
1968 Channing Elementary School is built Martin Luther King assassinated
1968 Elgin Area Historical Society (EAHS) didicates a memorial marking cemetery site Robert F Kennedy assassination
1971 EAHS dedicates grave of William Hackman, the last marked grave in Channing Apollo 14 launched, first landing in lunar highlands
1998 December, archaeologists conduct a preliminary dig at the site of Channing school addition Ellis Island ruled to be primarily in New Jersey not New York
1999 January - April, archaelolgists remove remains from area slated for construction Control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama
Year Event Historical