Oak Leaves in December 1920 had reported that Oak Park leaders were discussing some sort of war memorial and said, “It probably will take the form of a simple list of names in bronze with some significant emblem.” The result is far from a “simple list.”
The formal plan to recognize the communities’ war veterans began with a citizens meeting on Jan. 21, 1921, at Oak Park Village Hall. It was unanimously decided at that time to erect a memorial to commemorate the 2,446 who served from Oak Park and River Forest, 56 of whom made the supreme sacrifice.
Oak Leaves reported about the meeting the following week and noted that the high school’s art director, Miss Livingston, gave a “most convincing speech” that the memorial be a statue or monument, a work of art to inspire the masses. Other ideas suggested were a public health building, a theater, and a conservatory.
The American Legion proposed a two-story stone and brick community center (pictured) about 150 by 185 feet containing a number of halls of various sizes and a large, 150-by-100-foot auditorium behind the building that could also be used as a drill hall.
By May, the committee unanimously agreed that a monument would be erected on the hill at Scoville Place, once the site of James Scoville’s 20-room mansion. The Park District had purchased the site when it was created in 1912. That site was chosen over the forest preserve square at Harlem and Lake and recommended by Chicago’s eminent sculptor, Lorado Taft, after he visited the villages. (Among Taft’s many designs is the prominent Alma Mater sculpture at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where he earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.)
That fall, the War Memorial Committee launched a fundraising campaign to raise $65,000. The goal was that every resident would give something toward the project and allow them to share in this community enterprise. An editorial in the Oct. 1, 1921, Oak Leaves estimated that if each resident contributed $1.25, the goal would be met.
The Sculptor
Sculptor Gilbert Riswold (1882-1938), living in Oak Park at the time, was selected by the committee to design the monument from among a large number of competitors who had submitted models. The granite and bronze sculpture Riswold designed remains the focal point of Scoville Park today and is considered one of his most noted pieces.
Riswold also created a bust of Beethoven for the University of Chicago, and designed the Stephen A. Douglas sculpture that sat on the grounds of the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield until it was moved to storage in September 2020. Riswold moved to Utah in 1926 where he had earlier designed the Mormon Battalion Monument on the grounds of the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City
The Oak Park sculpture features Columbia (Lady Liberty) sheathing her sword, grouped by an aviator, a soldier and sailor. Riswold, explaining why other branches of the service were not included, said, “Columbia, having been defended from the land, the sea and the air, is now sheathing her sword.”
The names of those from Oak Park and River Forest who served in the war are included on the sculpture’s bronze plates, with a special tablet (5-by-15 feet) bearing the name of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, dying in combat or succumbing to an accident or disease while serving.
The figure of Columbia was carved out of a single piece of granite from Mount Airy, N.C., weighing 40 tons. It was carved by Riswold’s assistants, all accomplished craftsmen, on-site using an air hammer. The sculpture is 21 feet, 3 inches tall.
The Dedication
The unveiling and dedication of the monument on Nov. 11, 1925, grew a crowd of 5,000 to 10,000 (depending on reports) to Scoville Park. The hour-and-a-half-long ceremony was attended by the vice president of the United States, Charles Dawes.
The local committee met Dawes and Gen. James Harbord, distinguished guests at the ceremony, at Dawes’ house in Evanston (now the Evanston History Center) and drove to Oak Park, where they gathered across the avenue at the Oak Park Club (now condos) before being escorted to the ceremony by war veterans and the U.S. Naval Station Band from Great Lakes.
Before the ceremony, patriotic songs were played on the chimes at Grace Episcopal Church, and schoolchildren from both communities marched from their schools to the park. The Oak Park River Forest High School band and choruses performed the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The ceremony was broadcast throughout the country on radio station WLS. Western Electric Co., in Cicero, provided amplifiers for the crowd to hear the ceremony and to allow for the national broadcast.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, the American Legion Auxiliary of Oak Park placed a wreath on the monument and the crowd sang the Star-Spangled Banner. The sculpture was lit with flood lights every night for the next six months, The Oak Parker reported.
The Scoville Park monument was rededicated in a 2010 ceremony after being restored by Forest Park-based Conservation of Sculpture and Objects Studios, owned by Andrzej Dajnowski. The firm has also worked on Chicago’s Buckingham Fountain, the lions in front of the Chicago Art Institute, the Jefferson Memorial and Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., and Alma Mater at the University of Illinois-Champaign, among many others.
The bronze work on the statue was originally done by the American Art Bronze Foundry of Chicago. It’s interesting that several of the statues Dajnowski’s firm has cleaned and restored were originally cast in bronze by the American Art Bronze Foundry of Chicago, owned by Oak Parker Jules Berchem. In addition to casting the Scoville Park monument, Berchem’s company also created Alma Mater and the Art Institute’s lions.
Submitted by Cheri Bentrup, November 2025
Sources include: Oak Leaves 11-14-25
Oak Leaves 5-15-25, page 17
https://www.oakpark.com/2010/11/08/hundreds-gather-to-watch-memorials-grand-rededication-in-scoville-park/