As we know, Bertha Gruel's promising life was cut short when she died in 1914 at the age of 28. Her casket was placed in the Smith mausoleum in Crown Hill Cemetery while her parents planned and directed the construction of their own family mausoleum in the same cemetery. It was to be a truly impressive structure, the outer walls of Tennessee marble, the interior and the six cribs of fine Italian marble, all based on the plans of a Chicago mausoleum specialist and costing $3,000. When it was finally completed early in June 1915, its builder said there was not a finer one in all of Lake County.
On June 11 the Gruels gathered at Crown Hill, accompanied by numerous relatives and friends (for the family was well known and respected, and Bertha, a young woman of a quiet and gentle disposition, had endeared herself to all who knew her). In the presence of all these witnesses, Bertha's six brothers carried her casket from the Smith mausoleum to place it within the fine marble walls of the Gruel mausoleum, the marble walls that would shelter her parents' remains as well when their time came, the marble walls that would stand for centuries.
As I said, a rather touching story, and as soon as I read it I ran to Crown Hill Cemetery to get a photo of this magnificent mausoleum.
Just one problem: it isn't there.
I walked all over the cemetery looking for it. It really isn't there. How does a marble mausoleum disappear? OK, maybe the Gazette got confused about which cemetery it was in. In that case, they must have gotten the name "Smith" wrong as well, because the Smith mausoleum is there, in all its melancholy loveliness:
(Click on image to enlarge)
I checked the Hobart Cemetery. No Gruel mausoleum there, either.
Well, then — what? Did the Gruels later decide to move their mausoleum to another location? People moved houses all the time; why not a mausoleum? … I hope I eventually get the story on this, as I keep reading the microfilm.
Sources:
♦ "Death of Bertha Gruel." Hobart Gazette 13 Nov. 1914.
♦ "Gruel Mausoleum Finished." Hobart Gazette 18 June 1915.
3 comments:
Your story is most interesting and I hope you will keep us posted on your future discoveries about this mausoleum.
My local research has allowed me to index and write the history of the Old Mission Mausoleum in Wichita, Kansas. The mausoleum contains over 2500 internments, was built over a 34 year time span, and today represents a truly remarkable example early 20th-Century Spanish Colonial Revival of architecture. The research paid off in May 2009, when the structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior.
Thank you for your interests architecture and historical preservation.
Regards,
David in Wichita
dgstuart@gmail.com
Congratulations on your success with the National Register of Historic Places! It must be gratifying to see your hard work result in such a significant accomplishment.
I don't know why, but Bertha Gruel is at Graceland Memorial Park
Valparaiso
Porter County
Indiana, USA
Plot: Apostles, Lot 129.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=73288819
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