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Late In 1910, the
Iroquois Memorial Association commissioned
sculptor
Lorado Taft to create a solid bronze plaque memorializing Iroquois
Theater fire victims. An appeal was made to the
public in newspapers for loved ones to submit
correct spellings of victim's names, citing errors
in the coroner's 1903/4 list.*
At the unveiling, Taft's Motherhood of the World
sculpture was described as depicting the world's mother protecting the children of the
universe with the body of a child borne on a litter by
Herculean male figures, as a bereaved mother
bent over the child. It was also said to represent Human
Sympathy, symbolized by a woman figure standing with
outstretched arms, while a procession
of Humanity passed by. Litter
bearers don't look Herculean to me, goddess looks
very Madonna-like, and it's odd the description
didn't mention there's a supplicating crowd praying
to the goddess to save the children.
In addition to the artist's name, the plaque was
inscribed with the name J. Berchem.
Jules Berchem,
owned American Art Bronze, the company that cast the
two-hundred-pound 5' 10 x 4' 6 tablet.
Originally displayed in the waiting room at the
Memorial Hospital on
Market St., the plaque in plaster form was dedicated
on the eighth anniversary of the fire, December 30,
1911. It was later cast in bronze.
The Iroquois Memorial Hospital was closed in 1935,
reopened as a tuberculosis clinic for a time, and
during World War II, was used as a headquarters for
civilian defense. The building was demolished in
1951 for Wacker Drive improvements. At that time,
the plaque was salvaged and stored in the basement
at City Hall. In 1967 a janitor found the tablet and
called it to the attention of someone in authority.
It was then hung near the LaSalle Street entrance at
City Hall with blessings by Chicago mayor Richard J.
Daly. In 2010 the plaque was rededicated and a
marker was added (right).
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At the rededication of the Taft plaque in 2012, a bronze marker was added, stating:
LORADO TAFT IROQUOIS MEMORIAL TABLET (1912)
THIS BRONZE BAS-RELIEF PLAQUE WAS CREATED BY LORADO TAFT, A RENOWNED CHICAGO
SCULPTOR, TO COMMEMORATE THE IROQUOIS THEATER FIRE OF 1903. THE FIRE, WHICH
BROKE OUT DURING A PERFORMANCE OF MR BLUEBEARD, CLAIMED MORE THAN 600
LIVES. THE TABLET ORIGINALLY ADORNED THE WAITING ROOM OF THE IROQUOIS
MEMORIAL HOSPITAL AND WAS RECOVERED IN THE BASEMENT OF CITY HALL DECADES
AFTER THE HOSPITAL HAD CLOSED. MR. TAFT SELECTED SYMPATHY, PERSONIFIED AS A
WOMAN, AS THE CENTRAL FIGURE OF THE TABLET TO 'INTRODUCE A PROCESSION OF
HUMANITY, SOME OF THEM TAKERS, SOME OF THEM GIVERS, BUT ALL DEEPLY IMPRESSED
BY THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DOMINATING FIGURE [OF SYMPATHY].
THE COMMEMORATIVE INSCRIPTION WAS COMMISSIONED BY THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB OF
CHICAGO.
Information about Fountain of the Great Lakes
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