Statue of The Republic by Daniel Chester French 1893

July 04, 2024

Statue of The Republic by Daniel Chester French 1893

The Republic statue was created for the Chicago World Fair of 1893 and was known by a variety of names: The Golden Lady, The Republic, Goddess of the Republic, and Statue of Liberty. The fair lasted from May 1st-October 30th. About 50 different countries participated in the fair and 18 erected their own buildings at the site. The site was known as the "White City" for its predominant white Greco-Roman style buildings. It also featured the first ferris wheel, created by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. for the event.

After the fair closed the small city was destroyed in 3 fires, but the Goddess statue survived all of them:

"On January 8, 1894, the first great post-Fair fire consumed much of the east end of the Court of Honor. French’s Statue of the Republic stood “in the midst of it all like a gigantic silhouette, with uplifted arms as if appealing for help,” wrote the Chicago Tribune (Jan. 9, 1894). She held her liberty cap defiantly among clouds of black smoke as fierce flames danced around her for more than an hour. While the heat from this “Peristyle Fire” was intense enough to melt the ice on the Grand Basin, it barely tarnished the golden statue. By morning, the conflagration had completely destroyed the Peristyle, Casino, and Music Hall and damaged parts of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. Had the firemen not saved it from the flames, the Republic likely would have burned down that night, too. The next morning, the majestic golden goddess of the Fair looked as brilliant as ever, “except for a blistered right arm and a black spot over her heart,” noted the Chicago Herald." (from worldsfairchicago1893 website)

"When arsonists set a fire on February 14, 1894, the Republic watched the blaze destroy much of the South Colonnade between Agricultural Hall and Machinery Hall. She faced yet another and much bigger scene of horrific destruction on July 5, 1894, as the western end of the Court of Honor burned in another arsonous fire. Seven buildings—Terminal Station, the Administration Building, Mines and Mining Building, Electrical Building, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Agricultural Building, and Machinery Hall—succumbed to the inferno. The next morning, a single serene statue towered above a field of blackened ruins of twisted iron framework." (from worldsfairchicago1893)

"...the Chicago Inter Ocean also recognized that, with the surrounding buildings of the White City gone, the Republic now stood to better advantage: “Particularly was this so when last winter the golden figure towered above an unbroken field of snow. On the night of the last fire the flames seemed to separate and pass by on either side, and when the sun rose the next morning there seemed nothing left untouched but the golden woman of the lagoon.” (from worldsfairchicago1893)

“With only the sky for a background,” observed the Washington (DC) Evening Star, the statue “shows it proportions and lines to better effect now than before.” (from worldsfairchicago1893)

Redesign plans for the area to be turned into a park by Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot initially included the statue at its current location but later omitted it from the plans. Minimal efforts were made to repair the parts of the statue that had been damaged and the city decided, in secret, to destroy it:

"While the South Park board had spent around $250,000 making improvements to Jackson Park, focused mostly on the northern end near the museum, they had devoted a mere $400 for repairing staff and repainting the Republic. This despite a claim by J. F. Foster, General Superintendent and Engineer for the South Park Commission, that “every effort had been made to preserve the statue.” On Thursday, August 27, Captain Kelly of the South Park Police placed the orders to burn the Republic the next morning, and Capt. Shippy of the Woodlawn police notified the fire companies in the district that a blaze would be set in Jackson Park at dawn. When taking this decisive action at their meeting on August 12, the South Park board chose to keep the execution a secret. They delegated the task of destroying the statue to mechanical engineer and Assistant Park Superintendent A. H. Wilder, who chose fire as his tool. The Commission deemed burning the statue at night too hazardous because it would attract too many people, and a proposal for a public ceremony and celebration also was dismissed. They thought it best to raze the Republic—in secret—at daybreak. Her executioners slipped away quietly as crowds arrived on the scene, curious about the smoke rising over the park." (from worldsfairchicago1893)

-Death of the Republic: The fiery end to the golden colossus of the 1893 World’s Fair