Adopt a Monument

Seventeen historic monuments and four fountains grace Lincoln Park’s 1,214 acres. In 1984, we began our Adopt-A-Monument Program to assist the Chicago Park District with the restoration of these artistic treasures with the generous support of corporate and private donors. To adopt a Lincoln Park monument, please contact us at (773) 883-PARK or info@LincolnParkConservancy.org.

We are looking for a sponsor to adopt the John Peter Altgeld Monument for conservation. The monument’s base and foundation need extensive repair or replacement and the statue itself requires cleaning to preserve this special sculpture. Estimated cost of this project is $180,000. Danish sculptor Gutzon Borglum (1867-1941) of Mount Rushmore fame, cast the monument in bronze. It is located near Diversey Parkway between Cannon Drive and Inner Lake Shore Drive.

John Peter Altgeld was a German immigrant who became a lawyer, judge and politician devoted to democratic principles. In 1893, he was the first foreign-born man to be elected as Illinois governor. He spearheaded reforms such as workplace safety and child labor laws, but became a controversial figure when he pardoned three men convicted for inciting the deadly Haymarket Riot of 1886. His monument was installed in the park on Labor Day 1915.

A Signal of Piece (1889) by Cyrus Edwin Dallin
Standing Lincoln (1887) by Augustus Saint-Gaudens – Adopted/Renovation Completed 1989
Alexander Hamilton (1952) by John Angel – Adopted/Renovation Completed 2018
Benjamin Franklin (1896) by Richard Henry Park
Dr. Jose Rizal (1999) by Antonio T. Mondejar
Emanuel Swedenborg (1924) by Adolff Johnson
General Philip Henry Sheridan (1923) by Gutzon Borglum
Greene Vardiman Black (1918) by Frederick Cleveland Hibbard
Hans Christian Andersen (1896) by Johannes (John) Gelert
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1886) by Ernst Bilhauer Rau
John Peter Altgeld (1915) by Gutzon Borglum
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1913) by Herman Hahn
Richard Oglesby (1919) by Leonard Crunelle
Robert Cavelier de La Salle (1889) by Count Jacques de La Laing
The Alarm (1884) by John J. Boyle
Ulysses S. Grant (1891) by Louis T. Rebisso
William Shakespeare (1893) by William Ordway Partridge – Adopted/Renovation Completed 1989

Children’s Fountain (1982) by designer Robinson Iron (relocated to Lincoln Park in 2005).
Eli Bates Fountain (1887) by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Frederick MacMonnies – Adopted/Renovation Completed 1999
Fountain Girl (1893) by George Wade Adopted/Replacement Completed and Installed 2014
William C. Niesen Memorial Fountain (1955) sculptor/designer unknown