WHAT HAPPENED TO SECTION 13 at Rosehill Cemetery?

The fear of or avoidance of the number 13 is a recognized phobia and has been since 1910 when it was recognized by Isador Coriat in his book Abnormal Psychology.  It is estimated that 9 to 10 percent of the US population is at least uneasy about the number 13.  Because it is so widespread it even has its own name: Triskaidekaphobia.  Fear of Friday the 13th is called Paraskevidekatriaphobia.  

Many high rise buildings do not have a thirteenth floor.  When I worked in the State National Bank Building in downtown Evanston, Illinois we avoided having to try to lease the thirteenth floor by occupying it ourselves.

From a purely commercial standpoint I can understand if property owners, etc. want to avoid the number "13" but I would really be surprised if they originally had something labeled "13" and then at some point took the "13" away.  This is apparently what happened at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.

Rosehill Cemetery did not start out at its current size of +/- 350 acres.  When it was first dedicated in 1859 it was quite small.  Here is part of a map from 1861 showing Rosehill:

Here is a map showing the original size of Rosehill (outlined in black), and the 1883 addition (outlined in yellow):

You can see that the original section was labeled with letters: A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O and P.  For the 1883 Addition they used numbers:  100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107 and 108 and then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Here's Rosehill in 1897:

 Not all of the land south of Peterson and west of Ravenswood had been acquired as yet.  Rosehill did own land east of Ravenswood along Rosehill Drive but that was ultimately developed with residences, not used as a cemetery.

Here is map of Rosehill from about 1905 that I found in the files of the Evanston Historical Society.  

The Park Section north of Peterson is of course, not shown (it was not added until 1933) but there are quite a few other differences as well.  The community mausoleum (started 1912) is not there, nor is the lake opposite the mausoleum.  You will also note that the sections marked on the current map as "For Future Development" have also all been platted - including the sections deeded to the City of Chicago in 2011 for the Nature Preserve.   

What is on this map, clearly marked, is Section 13, right between Section 9 and Section 16:

Here's the same area from a current map of the cemetery:

Where did Section 13 go???  It looks like Section 13 is now called Section 16, and Sections 16 and 17 were combined into a new Section 17 by removing the road that ran between them.  Is that what happened?  Let's take a look.

This photo is taken looking south where the X in on this map.  It is pretty easy to see where the road used to cross this section.  To the left would have been Section 17 and to the right section 16:

Here we are at the other side looking north:

Closing off roads to make additional burial space is not unusual in a cemetery as old as Rosehill.  Recently they eliminated the road between Section 102 and 101:

And years ago, Rosehill eliminated the road between Section H and Section I:

Without getting a look at the historic correspondence of Rosehill Cemetery (fat chance of that) we will never know who ordered the elimination of Section 13, or the exact time it took place.  But it is pretty safe to say that 100+ years ago, somebody at Rosehill had a bad case of Triskaidekaphobia, and to make sure that it didn't spread, had all remnants of Section 13 at Rosehill eliminated.

May the anonymous triskaidekaphobian rest in peace.