Dive Brief:
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When construction crews begin refurbishing Oak Park Avenue on Chicago’s northwest side Monday, they will be digging around up to 10,000 bodies that have been buried under the road for two centuries.
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Workers have been instructed to “proceed with caution” and to call the city coroner if they unearth any remains, Alderman Timothy Cullerton told The Chicago Tribune.
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Any bodies discovered during the three-month project, when crews will add curbs, sidewalks and gutters to the road, will be relocated, Cullerton said.
Dive Insight:
The remains are mostly the unclaimed bodies of crime victims, criminals and insane asylum patients who were buried there during the 19th and early 20th centuries, The Tribune reported.
Still, a Chicago Genealogical Society spokesman told the newspaper that the remains of those who were “forgotten in life” will be treated with respect.