{"nrhp_refnum":"06000374","name":"Bohemian National Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Foster Ave., Pulaski Rd., Bryn Mawr Ave., and the approx. line of Central Park Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.98029530750006,"lon":-87.72409071690262,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-05-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Ethnic Heritage","Architecture","Art","Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A roughly 126-acre private cemetery district at 5255 North Pulaski Road on Chicago's northwest side, founded by the Czech (Bohemian) community and laid out in stages from 1878, 1903 and 1906.","why_significant":"The cemetery is presented as the central burial ground and civic gathering place of Chicago's Czech-American community. Its six public monuments express ethnic pride, immigrant patriotism, fraternal solidarity and freethought. Its landscape plans, buildings, mausoleums and sculpture, including work by Albin Polasek, add to its significance.","narrative":"Bohemian National Cemetery occupies about 126 acres on Chicago's northwest side, entered through a medieval-revival limestone gatehouse on Pulaski Road. It was laid out in three stages: a grid plan by John V. Benes in 1878, a curving eastern and southern extension by August Petrtyl in 1903, and a northern section by Jens Jensen in 1906. The grounds hold 64 resources, including a gatehouse, administration building, domed Renaissance Revival crematorium and columbarium, a 1950 water tower group, and 48 private family mausoleums in varied revival styles. Six major public monuments mark the community's values, among them the Klacel bust, a Civil War soldier, the Mother Monument by Albin Polasek, and memorials to Spanish War, Odd Fellows and World War veterans. The cemetery was listed as the principal burial ground and gathering place of Chicago's Czech-American community, reflecting its ethnic heritage, patriotism, fraternal life and freethought traditions.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Landscape layouts by John V. Benes (1878), August Petrtyl (1903) and Jens Jensen (1906); monuments by Albin Polasek, Frantisek Hess, Theodora Ruggles Kitson and Gorham Manufacturing; World War I and II Memorial by Joseph R. Bednarik","architectural_style":"Renaissance Revival, Classical Revival, Beaux Arts, Gothic Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as a cemetery and mortuary; the administration building interior has been altered, and a 1949 warehouse was razed in 2005 after a strip of land was sold to the city.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.774994-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/17/8926/28892617/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/06000374.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000374/eb5873f3ab-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000374/eb5873f3ab-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"https://www.flickr.com/people/54499054@N00 Zol87 from Chicago, IL, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bohemian_National_Cemetery.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">https://www.flickr.com/people/54499054@N00 Zol87 from Chicago, IL, USA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bohemian_National_Cemetery.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892617","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_National_Cemetery_(Chicago)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q890781"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/bohemian-national-cemetery-06000374/"}