Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee WI. This crematorium is located in the basement of the chapel on the cemetery grounds. The Chapel was built in 1890, and in 1896 2 oil fired crematories were installed. It was the first crematorium in the midwest and served as many as 6 states in the early years. It was in use for 102 years when it was finally retired in 1998, replaced with cleaner burning natural gas crematories which are housed in a newer building on the cemetery grounds.


The Chapel: I have posted pics of the chapel here before, but this was my first time inside.

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The Crematorium:

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This was cold storage for the deceased that were to be buried instead of cremated. It was designed for a time when graves could not be dug in the winter due to the frozen ground. Cold storage has not been used since sometime in the 1920's as about the same time widely available and cheap internal combustion engines powered such great things as the front end loader and the back hoe!
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The bare bulb here really ruined the shot. But pictured here are doors to the chapel floor on the altar above. Not pictured below it is a small coffin sized elevator. After funeral service, the body was quietly lowered to the basement crematorium.
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This crappy angle was shot intentionally to show you the soot on the ceiling. I am told it comes from the dirty oil burners, but doesn't fat make a lot of soot and smoke too??? Hmmmm.....
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This happy machine is a "processing station". Contrary to popular belief, remains are not fully incinerated. A LOT of skeletal remains comes out of the crematory. This is literally a garbage disposal, that grinds the remains to a size suitable to be placed in an urn. Parts have been gutted from this guy, including the grinding mechanism itself. Perhaps they are interchangeable with new equipment in the current crematorium, and have been shelved as spare parts.
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And finally, if curiosity strikes you, the manufacturer of the above machine has a You Tube video demonstrating operation of a newer model of the same type of processing station.

Another great explore, and interesting history as well! Pics 10 & 12 are among my most favorite...but I like those crematorium shots, too.
I worked for 10 years in a pet cemetery (but not like Stephen King's), as a crematory operator...natural gas cremators, and yes, fat is like gasoline in one of those ovens. Had to make sure it wasn't too hot if a fatter animal went in, or even the afterburners would be unable to burn off the excess smoke and soot.
That processing station is neat; dealing with smaller...clientele...we has what looked like a large pot on a (I always thought) a blender looking machine, that did pretty much what you described; takes the remaining bone matter and grinds it up into a fine powder, which is then placed in a bag, then to the urn. (Sorry if this is a bit too descriptive for anyone, it was a decent job, and a great service to those whom love their pets, and admittedly, it's rare for me to be able to 'nerd out' with the more technical aspects that I learned there 😏)
Anyway, thanks for sharing, nicely done!

Posted by Cfourexplore Another great explore, and interesting history as well! Pics 10 & 12 are among my most favorite...but I like those crematorium shots, too. we has what looked like a large pot on a (I always thought) a blender looking machine

Thank you!

The company that made that machine has pet equipment too - I saw a pic of exactly what you described on their website. It looked just like the guts of the bigger machine, just no fancy polished case and "counter top" around it. Humans are odd creatures and have a weird relationship with death. I guess we need the fancy polished case to hide the reality. Funny - if you really think about it, you can see polished cases hiding all sorts of realities in all aspects of life. Woooah... Duuude. I just blew my own mind. Damnit!! Now I'm a hippie. I didn't want to be a hippie. Now I have to quit my job and grow my hair out and stop washing my feet. Great. Just great.

Posted by Mr. Bitey Thank you! The company that made that machine has pet equipment too - I saw a pic of exactly what you described on their website. It looked just like the guts of the bigger machine, just no fancy polished case and "counter top" around it. Humans are odd creatures and have a weird relationship with death. I guess we need the fancy polished case to hide the reality. Funny - if you really think about it, you can see polished cases hiding all sorts of realities in all aspects of life. Woooah... Duuude. I just blew my own mind. Damnit!! Now I'm a hippie. I didn't want to be a hippie. Now I have to quit my job and grow my hair out and stop washing my feet. Great. Just great.

Well done Mr. Bitey
Waiting for a zombie or ghost or an orb... something

Death is a messy painful business most of time.
Don't let this bs fool you.
Real life isn't so tidy but they try their best to hide it and sanitize it.
I've seen one too many "peaceful" deaths one too many times.