Couch Tomb

Chicago


This 50-ton mausoleum – designed in 1858 by John Van Osdel, Chicago's first professional architect, for Ira Couch, a successful hotelier – is the sole reminder of Lincoln Park’s pre-1864 use, when the area was a municipal cemetery. (Many of the graves contained dead soldiers from Camp Douglas, a horrific prisoner-of-war stockade on the city’s South Side during the Civil War.) The city eventually relocated the bodies – except for the Couch family tomb, which was considered far too costly to move.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Chicago attractions

1. Standing Lincoln Sculpture

0.07 MILES

Sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Standing Lincoln (1887), considered one of the best statues of the 16th US president, shows him deep in contemplation…

2. Chicago History Museum

0.08 MILES

Curious about Chicago’s storied past? Multimedia displays at this museum cover it all, from the Great Fire to the 1968 Democratic Convention. President…

3. Lincoln Park

0.13 MILES

The park that gave the neighborhood its name is Chicago’s largest. Its 1200 acres stretch for 6 miles from North Ave north to Diversey Pkwy, where it…

4. Green City Market

0.18 MILES

Stands of purple cabbages, red radishes, green asparagus and other bright-hued produce sprawl through Lincoln Park at Chicago's biggest farmers market…

5. Archbishop’s Residence

0.21 MILES

The 1885 mansion, complete with 19 chimneys, is where seven of Chicago's past archbishops lived. World figures from Franklin D Roosevelt to Pope John Paul…

6. Patterson-McCormick Mansion

0.31 MILES

This 1893 neoclassical home designed by NYC architect Stanford White is a Gold Coast standout. Originally built for Elinor Patterson (who would later…

7. Farm-in-the-Zoo

0.31 MILES

Located at the Lincoln Park Zoo's southern end, the farm features a full range of barnyard animals and offers frequent demonstrations of cow milking,…