Kankakee County
Illinois USA
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Cemetery notes and/or description:
This cemetery has been removed from the public eye. If you take River Road east from the entrance of the Kankakee Community College, you will make a left at the second road. This road leads into the baseball diamonds and into River Road Park. Between the ball diamond and the park, on the west side of the road is a new 8' SOLID wood fence, with store bought, plastic, NO TRESPASSING signs posted. There is a path around the fence, which is chained off. If you walk down either side, as you get to the rear of the lot, the fencing is older and only 6'. Many of the slats are warped or twisted. (Damaged areas are quickly repaired.) You can peek between boards and see the graves. There has to be almost 1000 there.
There is ONE gate in, on the south side. The gate is solid wood, 8', and secured by 3 very large padlocks. It is obvious that someone(???) does not want the public snooping around. There are NO signs to indicate what is behind the fence, and nothing telling you where to go or who to talk to for information.
From what I could see, the stones (all the same, much like a Military Cemetery) had the deceased name, date of death, and hospital patient number. There are some flat ground stones on the west side. The Kankakee State Hospital no longer exists. It is now The Shapiro Developmental Center, and has been so since the mid 1970's.
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