In 1836 and 1837 several groups of Evangelical German families and single men migrated from western Pennsylvania and settled in the "Aux Plaine" area east of the Des Plaines River.

Their second church was built at the northwest corner of Wheeling (now Dundee) and Chicago Waukegan (now Sanders) Roads. The cemetery was directly west of the church. Each burial was next to the previous one until a row was complete.

As membership in the church declined, the cemetery was not maintained. It was used as a chicken yard, pigpen, pasture for the pastor's horse, then dumping ground. The gravestones were broken or removed. A 1937 survey indicated only four remaining stones. The names of many of the people originally buried here are now on headstones at North Northfield Cemetery, about a half mile east on Dundee Road, but it is not known if bodies were actually relocated. When Dundee Road was widened over the years from a dusty wagon track to five lanes, some graves were paved or plowed under.

In 2007 there was an archaeological investigation prior to commercial development. Topsoil was stripped and the disturbed subsoil of 82 graves was revealed. Many of them were the small graves of children. The excavated area was not the full extent of the cemetery. No headstones were found, the graves were not further excavated, and the topsoil was replaced. Subsequently, Chase Bank was built north of the cemetery, which is now a landscaped area on Dundee Road. It is very likely that remains were disturbed during construction and landscaping.

People listed as being buried in this cemetery are from the recollections of George Rockenbach (1841-1936), Samuel Ott (1841-1929), Dan Wessling (1855-1944) and William Plagge (1862-1933), who are their descendants.

The Village of Northbrook placed a memorial stone February 2013, and on June 27, 2013 the Aux Plaine Pioneer Cemetery was ceremonially dedicated. Speakers were: A. C. Buehler, a Trustee on the Village Board; Judy Hughes, President of the Northbrook Historical Society; and Ron Schinleber, of the Northbrook Historical Society and descendant of one of the people buried here.