On September 24, 2005, between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., the Heritage Network will sponsor a Cemetery Tour at Fairlawn Cemetery. 

The individuals and families that helped mold the character of a community and inspired the names of local streets, buildings, parks and businesses rest in a community's cemeteries. A cemetery walk provides a glimpse of that local history as well creates an awareness of and enthusiasm for historical restoration and preservation of historic cemetery monuments.

Historically, people often used cemeteries as parks. In addition to being a place to remember  loved ones, cemeteries gave people in past centuries the opportunity to walk and socialize in open green spaces in otherwise crowded, dirty and congested cities. Even so, the differences between rich and poor were obvious in cemeteries too, where the rich often erected elaborate mausoleums, crypts and headstones. Famous architects and artists designed some of the largest and most elaborate stone and marble edifices in these cemeteries. The other end this was the "Potter's field" for unidentified corpses, criminals, other undesirables, and anyone unable to pay for a burial.

"Development of Fairlawn Cemetery was started in 1913. The 65-acre tract ... was an abandoned brickyard; full of potholes, trenches, and ridges. It is now a well landscaped and wooded area, with paved drives, trees, and grassy slopes. ... Fairlawn Memorial Mausoleum was added to the cemetery near the north side in 1927. [It] was the first building in Decatur constructed by continuous pour operation for the concrete walls." (From web site.) This building was completed in 1927 at a cost of $250,000, and was designed to accommodate 1,000 crypts.

The tour will feature enactors telling the stories of individuals who were buried in the Greek and Jewish sections of the cemetery.

The Greek section: Many of the first Greeks who came to Decatur at the turn of the 20th Century were in their early teens and worked for the railroad. A railroad fire claimed the lives of three young Decatur men who had no known family in America. The Greek community was given the responsibility for their burials. This tragedy brought out awareness of the need for a Greek church and consecrated ground for Greek burials in Decatur. In 1916 the Greek section of Fairlawn Cemetery was purchased. Three years later an association was formed to raise funds for a church, and on Christmas Day 1927, the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Greek Church was opened. At the time, it was the only Greek church between Chicago and St. Louis.

In the Jewish section, one of the oldest interments is Henry Bachrach (1848-1917).  Mr. Bachrach was the founder of "Cheap Charlie's" Men's Clothing Store which was originally located on Merchant and Main streets in downtown Decatur. Close by is the burial site of Molly Appelbaum who died in 1918.