William McKinley Monument

William McKinley Monument, 1905

Charles J. Mulligan

McKinley Park

South of the intersection of Western Boulevard, Archer Avenue and 37^th Street

            As this portrait was to be located in a historically working-class neighborhood, sculptor Charles J. Mulligan wanted to remind viewers of William McKinley’s sponsorship of the Tariff Act of 1890. Designed to protect domestic manufacturers from foreign competition, the bill was passed while McKinley was serving as U.S. Representative from Ohio. It helped establish McKinley as a leader of the Republican party and he was elected 25^th President of the United States in 1896. In this work, McKinley is depicted with one hand on a desk and the other holding the notes for the speech promoting his tariff bill.

            On September 6, 1901, during a visit to the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, President McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist from Michigan who may have been imitating Gaetano Bresci, the assassin responsible for the death of Umberto I of Italy in 1900. Not long after McKinley’s death resulting from complications from the gunshot wounds on September 14^th, Daniel F. Crilly, president of the South Park Commission in Chicago, organized a committee that included department store magnate Marshall Field and banker Charles Dawes in order to raise funds for a McKinley monument. As part of this effort, commissioners agreed to melt down a bronze statue of Christopher Columbus created by Howard Kretschmar for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The statue was so disliked by the public and by Chicago Tribune critics that it was placed in storage by 1897 and the artist abandoned his career as an artist. 

Other works: 

• Home (The Miner and His Child) 
• Lincoln, the Railsplitter 
• Independence Square Fountain (Fourth of July Fountain)

Independence Square Fountain (Fourth of July Fountain)

Independence Square Fountain (Fourth of July Fountain), 1902

Charles J. Mulligan

Independence Square

Douglas Boulevard, near 14^th Street and Independence Boulevard

            Surrounded by fencing often laced with garbage, this fountain has been without water since at least the 1980s and the two bronze relief panels from the base are missing. The original bronze plaques depicted a mounted Indian facing colonial troops and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The exuberance of the children perched atop a 15-foot granite base in the shape of the Liberty Bell belies the otherwise depressing condition of this once grand fountain. 

          Dressed in turn-of-the-century clothing and holding Roman candles that once served as sprays for the water, the children also hold a flag, bugle and drum in honor of old-fashioned Fourth of July celebrations. Approximately 10,000 people attended the dedication ceremony on July 4, 1902, which featured a 45-gun salute by the National Guard. Sculptor Lorado Taft was thrilled about the work, hailing it as the “beginning of real artistic decoration of public places in Chicago.”  

Other works: 

• Lincoln, the Railsplitter 
• Home (The Miner and His Child) 
• William McKinley Monument

Lincoln, the Railsplitter

Lincoln, the Railsplitter, 1911

Charles J. Mulligan

Garfield Park

Northwest corners of Washington and Central Park Boulevards

            In contrast to other portraits of Abraham Lincoln in Chicago, many of which emphasize the burdens of leadership during war and crisis, this image depicts a young Lincoln in work clothes, sleeves rolled up and ax in hand. A poor man’s son from Kentucky, Lincoln described, in autobiographical writings, his experiences as a hired laborer who mauled rails and worked on a flat boat before he entered politics. A powerful symbol of upward mobility, rising from a log cabin to the White House, Lincoln’s own life story contributed to his opposition to slavery, since slaves were in a lifelong condition of bondage that did not allow for such any such improvement in their lives.

            Described as a “pleasing rather than great work of art,” Mulligan’s Lincoln is not as accurate in terms of facial structure and lankiness as the statues by Augustus Saint-Gaudens but the latter sculptor did take advantage of the life mask and castings made by Leonard Volk. Mulligan created another depiction of the sixteenth President for Pana, Illinois, entitled Lincoln at Gettysburg, and a replica may be viewed at Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago.

Other works by Mulligan: 

• Home (The Miner and His Child)
• William McKinley Monument
• Independence Square Fountain (Fourth of July Fountain) 

Other statues of Lincoln in Chicago: 

• The Young Lincoln 
• Abraham Lincoln (The Chicago Lincoln)
• Abraham Lincoln, the Head of State (Seated Lincoln) 
• Abraham Lincoln: The Man (Standing Lincoln)

Home (The Miner and His Child)

Home (The Miner and His Child), 1901 (installed 1911)

Charles J. Mulligan

Humboldt Park

Near Division Street and California Avenue

             A sentimental limestone rendering of a miner embracing his young daughter, the statue has suffered tremendous damage from weather and neglect but viewers may still sense the tenderness expressed between the powerful miner and small child. This work was exhibited at the 1901 Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, where President McKinley was shot, and sculptor Charles J. Mulligan would later create a bronze monument to McKinley for Chicago’s McKinley Park. 
          Mulligan was known for his sympathetic depictions of American workers and his portrait of Abraham Lincoln that stands in Garfield Park shows the sixteenth President as a young railsplitter. Mulligan was working as a stonecutter when discovered by sculptor Lorado Taft and he eventually succeeded Taft as head of the sculpture department at the Art Institute of Chicago.  

Other works: 

• Lincoln, the Railsplitter 
• William McKinley Monument 
• Independence Square Fountain (Fourth of July Fountain)