More from the Smithsonian website: "This memorial to the policemen killed in the Haymarket Riots on May 4, 1886, has been moved five times. It was first erected on a pedestal in the middle of Haymarket Square, but was defaced and regarded as a traffic hazard, so it was moved to Union Park. On May 4, 1927, a street car jumped the tracks and rammed the monument knocking the statue off its base. The monument was moved to another location in Union Park, and in 1958 it was brought back to the Haymarket area to a special platform built for it near Randolph Street. It was bombed twice, in 1969 and 1970, and in February 1972 it was moved to the lobby of Central Police Headquarters. Finally in October 1976 it was moved and rededicated in the garden of the Police Training Center. The original base with its inscription --In the name of the people of Illinois I command peace -- remains at Randolph and Kennedy. IAS files contain an extensive report which details the history of the Haymarket Riot Monument and its relocations. The report includes a transcription of the inscription which appears on the Randolph Street base and of the inscription which appears on a plaque installed on the current base in 1966.
Provenance:
Formerly located Central Police Headquarters, Lobby, South State Street, Chicago, Illinois 1972-1976.
Formerly located Haymarket Square, Randolph Street and Kennedy Expressway, Chicago, Illinois 1958-February 1972.
Formerly located Union Park, Chicago, Illinois 1927-1958.
Formerly located Union Park, Randolph and Ogden streets, Chicago, Illinois 1900-May 4, 1927.
Formerly located Haymarket Square, Chicago, Illinois May 30, 1889-1900.
Dimensions: Sculpture: approx. 9 ft. x 35 1/2 in. x 31 3/4 in.; Base: approx. 27 in. x 7 ft. 11 in. x 7 ft. 11 in. including 7 inch high concrete pad.
Inscription: J. Gelert sculptor 1888/American Bronze Co. Chi. IL (On sculpture:) J.B. signed Founder's mark appears."
See the Physical Location entry below for the current location. From (
visit link) :"On June 1, 2007 the statue was rededicated at Chicago Police Headquarters located at 3510 South State Street and placed on a new pedestal. The re-dedication unveiling was conducted by Geraldine Doceka, Officer Mathias Degan’s great-granddaughter. The statue currently resides at this location."
New plaques:
"Haymarket Memorial - Dedicated June 1, 2007 at Chicago Police Department Headquarters as a testament to the bravery of the eight Chicago police officers who died as a result of the Haymarket conflict of May 4, 1886, and to all police officers who have sacrificed their lives to serve and protect the citizens of this great city. Pedestal by Mike Baur, 2007.
In memory, Chicago police attacked at the Haymarket May 4, 1886, eight officers killed (listed), 59 officers wounded.
In the name of the people of Illinois I command peace."
More about the Haymarket Riot from (
visit link)
" This work was commissioned in 1888 by a committee of 25 businessmen and civic leaders to serve as a memorial to the police officers who died during the events of May 4, 1886 at Haymarket Square in Chicago. It was Danish sculptor Johannes Gelert’s first major commission.
In the midst of the national movement for an 8-hour workday, a rally was held in Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886 to support striking workers at the nearby McCormick reaper plant. The assembly was peaceful and Mayor Carter H. Harrison advised police not to intervene. When the rhetoric heated up near the end of the rally, however, 176 officers marched in and ordered the crowd to disperse. A bomb was thrown and one officer, Mathias Degan, was killed instantly. Police responded with gunfire and seven more officers (and an undetermined number of civilians) were killed that evening with 60 officers injured.
The melee resulted in hundreds of arrests and, eventually, eight anarchists were charged with “inciting the act;” all eight were convicted and seven were sentenced to death. Four were hanged on November 11, 1887, one died in prison and the other three were given complete pardons by Governor John Peter Altgeld in 1893, due to the lack of credible evidence from the conspiracy trial.
Public opinion toward the police actions and the behavior of the protestors has always been divided and this memorial has had its own tumultuous history. Originally erected in Haymarket Square in 1889, it was declared a traffic hazard in 1900 and moved to Union Park. In 1927 (on the anniversary of the events) a streetcar crashed into the statue and it was subsequently moved to another section of the park. In 1958 it was returned to the Haymarket area (near the Kennedy expressway) and it was granted Landmark status in 1965. In October of 1969, however, the life-sized, bronze statue was blown off of its pedestal by dynamite, restored, and then damaged again by explosives in 1970. In 1972, it was relocated to the lobby of the old Chicago Police headquarters on State Street. In 1976, it was placed in the atrium of the Police Academy away from public view. In June 2007, after being refurbished and provided with a new pedestal by Mike Baur, the statue was installed outside of the Chicago Police Headquarters on Michigan Avenue.
Although the artist’s initial design featured an allegorical female figure of “Law,” the committee requested a more down-to-earth representation and the statue is intended to represent Capt. William Ward, who called for the crowd to disperse. Gelert modeled his figure after a policeman he saw directing traffic. Conversely, the Haymarket Martyrs’ Monument (1893), located at the grave of five of the convicted anarchists in Forest Home (Waldheim) cemetery in Forest Park and designed by Albert Weinert, does include an allegorical female form, understood as either “Justice,” “Anarchy” or “Revolution.”"
Moved to current location in the parking lot of the Chicago Police Department HQ at 3510 S. State Street in 2007. Park on the street - the statue is behind the controlled access fence.