Haymarket Martyrs' Monument - Forest Home Cemetery, Forest Home, IL - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

From the Smithsonian American Art Inventory site:
"The monument commemorates workers' struggle to achieve the eight-hour workday and the 1886 rally in Haymarket Square that led to the hangings of four leaders of the fight for workers' rights and suicide death of another. On May 4, 1886, a group of workers gathered in Haymarket Square in Chicago to protest police brutality against strikers at the South Side McCormick Reaper Factory. At the conclusion of the meeting, police marched in and demanded an end to the gathering. An unknown assailant threw a bomb into the crowd, and police shots rang out. Several police officers and protesters were killed or wounded. Police later apprehended eight anarchists, four of whom would be executed.

In Dec. 1887, the Pioneer Aid and Support Association was incorporated with the purpose of "providing for the families of the executed men and of erecting a monument to their memory," The PASA, headed by Lucy Parsons, was comprised of members of the Amnesty Association, the Defense Committee and the Central Labor Union. They raised $6,000 towards the cost of the memorial. A design competition was held in Oct. 1890, and on Feb. 14, 1892, the commission was awarded to Albert Weinert. His idea for the figures was based on a verse from the French national anthem La Marseillaise (The Marseilles).

The monument marks the grave site of the Haymarket martyrs--Spies, Fischer, Parsons, Linng and Engel. German Waldheim Cemetery, with its nondiscrimination policy, was the only cemetery in the Chicago area that would accept their remains. The dedication ceremony on June 25, 1893 was attended by over 8,000 people. Floral tributes came from unions in England, France and Belgium. The platform of the monument was covered with the crimson banner of the Architectural Ironworkers Union No. 2, the blue flag of the Brewery Workers Union, the red banners of the Turnverein Clubs, and the American flag. On May 2, 1971, the Pioneer Aid and Support Association turned over the title to the newly-formed Illinois Labor Historical Society.

The monument was officially designated a National Historic Landmark on Feb. 18, 1997."

Street address: Forest Home Cemetery 863 S. Des Plaines Ave. Forest Home, IL USA County / Borough / Parish: Cook Year listed: 1997 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Person Periods of significance: 1875-1899 Historic function: Funerary Current function: Funerary Privately owned?: yes Hours of operation: From: 8:00 AM To: 4:30 AM Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Secondary Website 2: [Web Link] National Historic Landmark Link: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed

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