Back in 1877, a Catholic Czech woman was denied burial in several Catholic cemeteries because supposedly she did not go to Confession and Holy Communion at least once during the Easter season. In response, the Czech community purchased this land to create their own cemetery that they controlled.
Due to time constraints, we were not able to do a complete tour of the cemetery but will go back and finish the next time we're in Chicago.
The Eastland Memorial was the first thing we wanted to see. The memorial was dedicated in July 2015, on the 100th anniversary of the disaster (see here for Eastland information)
Anton Cermak was the 44th Mayor of Chicago and served 1931-1933. On February 15, 1933, he was shaking hands with FDR in Miami when a bullet intended for FDR hit Cermak instead (as well as four other people, causing them minor injuries). Cermak died in the hospital on March 6 and before his death, he allegedly said to FDR "I'm glad it was me, not you." There's no proof he actually said this but it is engraved on his coffin. Also inside his mausoleum is a photo of FDR visiting his mausoleum which you can see through the doors.
The third thing we wanted to find was the "Cubs" columbarium, installed in 2009 and holding 288 niches. Dennis Mascari raised the funds for it and now resides within it. It was designed to resemble the wall at Wrigley Field, complete with vines and two stadium chairs.
Here are a few other distinct graves we found, including an elaborate two trees monument.
The "Mother" sculpture was created by Albin Polasek and stands in front of a columbarium. We didn't find his other sculpture here called "The Pilgrim" but will be sure to find it next time.
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