Sports fans love a good player tribute or memorial. They flock to places like stadiums, the
various hall of fames, hometowns of heroes and museums to see artist’s
renditions of the athlete and their careers.
There are simply hundreds of places to visit to pay homage to the many
great athletes of the world. Bloomington
Illinois has added a venue in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery! A cemetery is not your standard variety
venue.
Many cemeteries feature stone art. Many old stones were carved with scenes of nature or animals and the way those are depicted generally has a meaning. There is some of that art in Evergreen Memorial, but there is also new art that just grows with the trees. It all began in 2015 when a tree died near a spot where a plane had crashed during the Memorial Day ceremonies of 1948. Instead of cutting down the tree and removing the stump, management decided to have it carved into a memorial commemorating that crash. A carver was hired and when completed, a replica of the plane that crashed adorned the top of the stump that remained after removing the damaged portion of the tree.
So started a tradition has Evergreen Memorial on the way to becoming more than a final destination. Now the cemetery is a favorite local destination for viewing some nice chainsaw art carving. The second creation is near the grave of Dorothy Gage. Bill Baker of Top Notch Chainsaw Carvings completed a carving of Dorothy from L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz in 2018. Gage was Baum’s niece and was the person he named the character after.
Bill Baker carved two more memorials in 2019. One is of an infant in a tree also near the grave of Dorothy Gage, the other of Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn who is also buried in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.
Radbourn was born in Rochester NY in 1853 but was raised in and called Bloomington home. He spent 12 years in Major League Baseball with the Buffalo Bisons, Providence Grays, Boston Beaneaters, Boston Reds, and Cincinnati Reds. He passed away in 1897 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.
Bill Baker related that the carving of Radbourn was interesting because most of the photographs he used as a reference were taken from the waist up. Only a couple full-length shots seem to exist that Baker was able to locate. Baker also states in a social media post about this carving that an imperfection in the old tree used for the carving was located in the exact spot of the left eye. Imperfections aren’t unusual, but his further research revealed that Radbourn was blind in his left eye after a hunting accident where he was accidentally shot by a friend. In Bakers words, some things were meant to be. The eye imperfection remains in the final works. Other details of the art are a wooden bat placed against Radbourn’s right hand and BOSTON on his jersey. Several parts of the work are blackened to give it a more lifelike appearance.
Evergreen Memorial Cemetery is home to a lot of old oak trees and the property is the final resting place of many of Bloomington, Normal and McLean Counties prominent historical figures as well as many historical characters. The families of Supreme Court Judge David Davis (a friend and confidant of Abraham Lincoln), Adlai Stevenson, the Gridley’s, the Funks, Sergeant Joshua Rodgers and others are all laid to rest here leaving a variety of material, personalities and memories to be commemorated and carved.
Evergreen Memorial Cemetery is located 2 blocks east of Main Street, south of downtown Bloomington at 302 Miller Street.
More images of the memorial to Charles Radbourn can be found here:
More images of Evergreen Memorial Cemetery are here: https://alanlook.photoshelter.com/portfolio/G0000lUNl4ZC1MWU/I0000AuQkYE8cKyo
Many cemeteries feature stone art. Many old stones were carved with scenes of nature or animals and the way those are depicted generally has a meaning. There is some of that art in Evergreen Memorial, but there is also new art that just grows with the trees. It all began in 2015 when a tree died near a spot where a plane had crashed during the Memorial Day ceremonies of 1948. Instead of cutting down the tree and removing the stump, management decided to have it carved into a memorial commemorating that crash. A carver was hired and when completed, a replica of the plane that crashed adorned the top of the stump that remained after removing the damaged portion of the tree.
So started a tradition has Evergreen Memorial on the way to becoming more than a final destination. Now the cemetery is a favorite local destination for viewing some nice chainsaw art carving. The second creation is near the grave of Dorothy Gage. Bill Baker of Top Notch Chainsaw Carvings completed a carving of Dorothy from L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz in 2018. Gage was Baum’s niece and was the person he named the character after.
Bill Baker carved two more memorials in 2019. One is of an infant in a tree also near the grave of Dorothy Gage, the other of Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn who is also buried in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.
Radbourn was born in Rochester NY in 1853 but was raised in and called Bloomington home. He spent 12 years in Major League Baseball with the Buffalo Bisons, Providence Grays, Boston Beaneaters, Boston Reds, and Cincinnati Reds. He passed away in 1897 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.
Bill Baker related that the carving of Radbourn was interesting because most of the photographs he used as a reference were taken from the waist up. Only a couple full-length shots seem to exist that Baker was able to locate. Baker also states in a social media post about this carving that an imperfection in the old tree used for the carving was located in the exact spot of the left eye. Imperfections aren’t unusual, but his further research revealed that Radbourn was blind in his left eye after a hunting accident where he was accidentally shot by a friend. In Bakers words, some things were meant to be. The eye imperfection remains in the final works. Other details of the art are a wooden bat placed against Radbourn’s right hand and BOSTON on his jersey. Several parts of the work are blackened to give it a more lifelike appearance.
Evergreen Memorial Cemetery is home to a lot of old oak trees and the property is the final resting place of many of Bloomington, Normal and McLean Counties prominent historical figures as well as many historical characters. The families of Supreme Court Judge David Davis (a friend and confidant of Abraham Lincoln), Adlai Stevenson, the Gridley’s, the Funks, Sergeant Joshua Rodgers and others are all laid to rest here leaving a variety of material, personalities and memories to be commemorated and carved.
Evergreen Memorial Cemetery is located 2 blocks east of Main Street, south of downtown Bloomington at 302 Miller Street.
More images of the memorial to Charles Radbourn can be found here:
More images of Evergreen Memorial Cemetery are here: https://alanlook.photoshelter.com/portfolio/G0000lUNl4ZC1MWU/I0000AuQkYE8cKyo
