Rosehill Cemetery opened in 1859 on Roe's Hill, land owned by resident and local tavern owner Hiram Roe. City Cemetery had been Chicago's central burying ground until the city decided in the 1860s to turn it into Lincoln Park. To accommodate the park, many of bodies at rest in City Cemetery were removed to other cemeteries in the Chicago area, including Rosehill, Graceland, and Oak Woods.

In 1862, Rosehill established a plot for Chicagoans killed while fighting for the Union during the Civil War. Several Union generals are buried here, along with hundreds of Union soldiers who passed away in training or guarding Confederate prisoners at Chicago's Camp Douglas. The Union men who died at Camp Douglas were interred initially at City Cemetery, but were moved to Rosehill when City Cemetery closed. Confederate prisoners buried at City Cemetery were moved to Oak Woods Cemetery on the south side.

Our Heroes was installed at Rosehill in 1870. The monument, designed by sculptor Leonard Volk, honors the fifteen thousand men from Chicago who fought for the north during the war. The cemetery is also home to several memorials dedicated to the memory of Civil War regiments.

Rosehill is the final resting place of several notable Chicagoans, including almost a dozen Chicago mayors, four Illinois governors, Aaron Montgomery Ward, U.S. Vice President Charles Dawes, Leonard Volk, Oscar Mayer, and Richard Warren Sears.

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