Officials consider columbarium for Dundee East cemetery

Dundee Township officials are considering an innovative way to inter the remains of cremated people in Dundee Township East Cemetery.

Instead of continuing to bury the remains in the ground as they have been doing for years, they are talking about constructing a columbarium and creating a parklike setting in the Route 25 graveyard.

The project is in the early stages, said township Supervisor Sue Harney, and it has the potential of being much more than a granite wall with cubby holes and name tags.

“We know that St. Charles has a columbarium (in Union Cemetery). Not much information is available. We want to talk to people there to see how they had theirs designed and built,” she said. “We don't have the first idea of any companies that design them.”

Families who buy space in the only available cemetery operated by the township have convinced Dundee Township board members of the growing demand for space for cremated remains, she said.

“More and more people are opting to be cremated,” she said. “I can envision a place where there are benches, walkways, and pedestals four and five feet from the ground where we can place those remains in. It would be in the undeveloped area of the cemetery.

“It would be a two-minute walk from the cemetery office.”

Twenty-five thousand dollars sit in the township's budget to get the project started. More will be added if it is needed, the supervisor said.

“We want this to be a contemplative place and very beautiful,” she said.

Dundee Township board members own two cemeteries: Cemetery West on 31 across from Spring Hill Mall and Cemetery East. The Route 31 graveyard is the older of the two, and it is filled and landlocked.

The Route 25 cemetery is the larger cemetery. It has 29 acres and room for thousands of burials.

The older section is filled with full-size plots.

The columbarium will join them in a year if planning goes smoothly and money for its construction is available, Harney said.