CHARLES DURKEE (1805-1870)
Charles Durkee was a Wisconsin senator from Southport. He owned the land that is now Green Ridge Cemetery. When his young wife Catherine died in 1838, she was buried here and Charles donated the land to the city for a cemetery.
John Bullen, jr. was the founder of Kenosha with the Western Immigration Company, arriving here from Hannibal, NY in 1835. Originally interested in Milwaukee, the group sent Bullen south where he selected a site along Pike Creek. He went back to New York for provisions, and returned to Pike Creek in May of 1836. He build the first house in the settlement with Nathan Allen.
Tony Pingitore was the first Italian police officer for the city of Kenosha, and the first officer killed in the line of duty. In the early morning hours of March 31, 1919, three men dynamited open the vault at American Brass Company. Officer Pingitore was in the office of the Sheridan Road Garage getting the phone call about the crime when a local cab driver walked in with the three men. Immediately one of the men shot Pingitore, the bullet striking him in the neck, killing him instantly. He left a wife and eight young children. All three men were caught, tried, and imprisoned for the crime.
A huge thank you goes out to Barrett Frost for making the Veteran's Circle Restoration his Eagle Scout project. It looks great and will continue to be a monument for which Kenosha can be proud.
JOHN BULLEN (1803-1884)
BEATRICE WELLES (1881-1924)
Beatrice Welles was the first woman in Kenosha to hold an elected post when she was elected to the Board of Education in 1914. She served alongside Mary D. Bradford, the first woman Superintendent of Schools. Beatrice was also the mother of movie actor Orson Welles.
TONY PINGITORE (1885-1919)
1ST WISCONSIN CAVALRY (CIVIL WAR)
From Fall, 1861 to Spring, 1862, men of the 1st Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry encamped in what is now part of Green Ridge Cemetery. Known as Camp Harvey, after the governor, this area was sandy beach. The stone marker reads:
The First Wisconsin Cavalry
Rendezvoused Here
In 1861
From 1862 To 1865
The Regiment Fought To Preserve The Union
On Fame's Eternal Camping Ground
Their Silent Tents Are Spread
And Glory Guards With Solemn Round
The Bivouac Of The Dead
1917
VETERAN'S PARK MONUMENT
