Home of the Violin Annie Memorial in Southern Illinois
1010 South Pine Street, Centralia, IL 62801
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free access during posted daylight hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved cemetery roads and grass walking among monuments
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1877 · Victorian Funerary Art · Marshall Family Memorial · Late-19th-Century Cemetery
Elmwood Cemetery in Centralia, Illinois, was in active use by the 1860s and formally established in 1877. It also appears in some local references as Centralia Cemetery. Set near the southern edge of Centralia in Marion County, the grounds contain markers spanning the late nineteenth century forward.
The most-photographed memorial in the cemetery belongs to Harriet Annie Marshall, daughter of Dr. Winfield and Eoline Marshall. She died of diphtheria on June 18, 1890, at the age of 11 years and 23 days. The Marshalls commissioned a near-life-size marble statue of their daughter for the top of the family monument. Based on a family painting that depicted Annie holding her violin while her father played piano, the statue shows her with flowing hair, holding the instrument she was reportedly known for playing well throughout the community.
The monument has suffered vandalism over the decades. The carved violin bow has been broken off, and the Marshall family has periodically attempted maintenance. Annie's grave and statue remain a focal point for visitors interested in late-Victorian funerary art in southern Illinois.
Sources
Generations of Centralia residents have grown up hearing the story that on quiet nights, faint violin music drifts from the Marshall monument in Elmwood Cemetery. The legend is anchored in fact: Annie was reportedly an accomplished young violinist, and her parents commissioned a statue depicting her with the instrument as a memorial. The folklore extension — that her music carries from the marble — is a community story rather than a documented phenomenon.
A 2004 update to the original Shadowlands listing corrected an earlier, harsher rumor that had circulated in some versions of the story (that Annie's mother had killed her). The correction notes that Annie died of diphtheria during a family trip, that her mother's grief is documented but did not involve violence, and that the statue was commissioned by her father based on a painting once owned by a local antique dealer. We follow the corrected version in our retelling.
Notable Entities
Walk through Elmwood Cemetery and find the near-life-size marble statue of Harriet Annie Marshall — Violin Annie — standing atop the Marshall family monument. The statue depicts the child holding a violin, with details based on a family painting.
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