Restoration Of Lombard Cemetery Wins Local Award
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Civic groups in west suburban Lombard have been honored for restoring an old cemetery that had fallen into disrepair over the years.
The 2015 William Mueller Lombard Heritage Award has been presented to the Lombard Cemetery Restoration Project, which fixed up the old Lombard Cemetery at Main Street and Washington Boulevard.
"It was totally overgrown. Some of the tombstones were in very bad condition," said Rita Schneider, chairwoman of the Lombard Historical Commission, which led the restoration project.
Before the Lombard Cemetery Restoration Project began, three senior citizens had taken it upon themselves to try to keep up the place, but it became too much for them, according to Schneider.
The cemetery, which opened in 1851, needed a lot of work.
"We planned out the restoration. Put in a brand new wrought iron fence all the way around. Took out 39 trees," Schneider said.
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In addition, dozens of tombstones were repaired or replaced.
"It is absolutely pristine now. It is beautiful," Schneider said.
The project also discovered 34 people buried at Lombard Cemetery were military veterans who had served the United States from the War of 1812 to World War II.
Nine of the veterans didn't have headstones, but they do now. The Veterans Administration provided them, and local school kids raised money to have them installed through their Pennies for Patriots Project.
Involved in the restoration project were the Village of Lombard, the Lombard Park Distrrict, the Lombard Historical Society, the Lombard Historical Commission, and the Lombard Garden Club.
