Beyond Redemption: The Business of Cemetery Eminent Domain

In 1849, parishioners of the Chicago, Illinois, German United Evangelical Reformed Lutheran Church began burying their beloved dead in the adjacent St. Johannes Cemetery. Although church congregants expected their departed would remain in their resting places indefinitely, the City of Chicago had a different plan. As Chicago authorities planned to take the cemetery’s property and relocate over 1,400 dead Lutherans, attorney Joe Karaganis began the fight to preserve and support the religious beliefs of the buried and living St. Johannes faithful. Although Karaganis knew it was legal to take religious cemetery property through eminent domain, he sought to show airport and city authorities that such a taking was not ethical. In light of the pressures of accelerated development, this case examined whether the property of the religious dead should be considered unique in character, separated from other forms of real property and entitled to special protection under the law.