George Washington, Robert Morris, Hyam Salomon Memorial - Chicago, IL
Posted by: adgorn
N 41° 53.230 W 087° 37.613
16T E 447991 N 4637438
George Washington in his Revolutionary War uniform shakes hands with English-born Robert Morris, on his right, and Polish-Jewish emigre Hyam
Salomon, on his left. Located along Wacker Dr. near Chicago River btw State & Wabash.
Waymark Code: WM6BZH
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 05/11/2009
Views: 9
Info from Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog
Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite.
Figures: approx. 11 x 12 x 4 ft.; Base: approx. 6 x 15 x 5 ft.
(On plaque on top step of stone base:) Symbol of American Tolerance and Unity and of the Cooperation of People of All Races and Creeds in the Upbuilding of the United States. /This monument designed by Lorado Taft and completed/by Leonard Crunelle was presented to the city of/Chicago by the Patriotic Foundation of Chicago (followed by list of names) Dedicated on the 150th Anniversary of the Ratification of the American Bill of Rights/December 15, 1941. (On plaque on middle step of base:) Rededicated by American Mason Heritage Council October 6th 1962 (Front of base:) Robert Morris . George Washington . Haym Salomon/The government of the United States/which gives to bigotry no sanction to the persecution/no assistance requires only that they who live under/its protection should demean themselves as good citizens/in giving it on all occasions their effectual support/President George Washington 1790.
Morris, a banker and signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his colleague Salomon, are considered the major financiers of the American Revolution. A bronze plaque on the base pictures an assemblage of figures, of many different origins, seated around a figure of Liberty. Liberty stretches out her arms to embrace all.
Chicago lawyer Barnet Hodes commissioned the sculpture in the 1930s to pay tribute to these patriots. He formed The Patriotic Foundation and raised the necessary 50,000 dollars. When Taft died in 1936 after completing only a small study model, his associates at the Midway Studios were given a new contract, and three of them, Nellie Walker, Mary Webster, and Leonard Crunelle, each enlarged one of the figures.
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