1880s German Frame Church Near the Graue Mill Underground Railroad Site
Near Graue Mill on Spring Road, Oak Brook, IL 60523
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free. The cemetery and adjacent church are part of the Fullersburg Historic District and are operated by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County and partners.
Access
Limited Access
Historic district paths; uneven ground in cemetery
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1880 · Underground Railroad · Fullersburg Historic District · Graue Mill · German Immigrant Settlement · Civil War Veterans
The Evangelical Church and its cemetery sit within the Fullersburg Historic District in Oak Brook, Illinois, west of Chicago. The district is centered on the 1852 Graue Mill, a water-powered grist mill on Salt Creek operated by Frederick Graue, who was a dedicated abolitionist. The mill is one of only three authenticated Illinois sites on the Underground Railroad. People escaping enslavement were sheltered in the basement of the grain mill during the period before the Civil War.
The nearby white frame Evangelical Church was built in the 1880s by local farmers who had emigrated from Hanover, Germany. The church and its small cemetery serve as the historic Lutheran-tradition congregation site within the district. John Coe, a documented Underground Railroad conductor, and his son Samuel, a Civil War veteran, are buried in the cemetery, alongside graves of additional Civil War soldiers and early German-immigrant settlers of the surrounding area.
The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County owns and operates the Graue Mill complex; the Fullersburg organization curates the historic district. The Shadowlands narrative describing the cemetery as a burial ground for enslaved people who died on the journey to Canada is not supported by primary sources; the documented Underground Railroad-era graves in this cemetery are those of conductors and white settlers rather than of formerly enslaved people. We present the burial-ground-for-the-enslaved narrative as folklore.
Sources
The Shadowlands folklore at this cemetery is interesting precisely because it inverts the documented history. The historical record establishes the Fullersburg site as part of the Underground Railroad's network of helpers - the Graue Mill basement sheltered people fleeing enslavement, and the Coe family who are buried at the church played a documented role as conductors. The Shadowlands narrative imagines the cemetery instead as the resting place of enslaved people who died en route.
No historical record supports the burial-ground-for-the-enslaved framing. The Underground Railroad routes through northern Illinois generally did not produce on-site burials at conductor stations; people fleeing enslavement typically continued their journey, and those who died en route were buried elsewhere if at all. The documented graves at the Evangelical Church are of German-immigrant settlers and Civil War veterans, including the Coe family.
We present the lore as folklore that has confused the documented Underground Railroad history with a more general burial-ground-for-the-displaced narrative. The cemetery and adjacent church are an authentic and substantial piece of nineteenth-century abolitionist history; visitors are better served by the documented record than by the Shadowlands narrative.
Walk the small historic district that includes the 1852 Graue Mill, a documented Underground Railroad station, and the 1880s white frame Evangelical Church and cemetery built by German immigrants from Hanover. John Coe, an Underground Railroad conductor, and his son Samuel are buried in the cemetery.
The 1852 grist mill on Salt Creek was one of three authenticated Illinois stops on the Underground Railroad. The basement was used to shelter people escaping enslavement. The museum interprets the mill's operations and abolitionist history.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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