More questions raised about Mother Jones statue planned near Chicago’s historic Water Tower: ‘Why would we want any statue’ there?
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Top officials with the Chicago water department expressed concerns about putting a statue of labor activist Mother Jones at Jane Byrne Park, internal city emails show.
Several officials received an email last December from Rosemary Feurer, a Northern Illinois University professor who has been a leading advocate for the Mother Jones statue, about having a news conference at the site between Christmas and New Year.
The email set off several discussions and confusion among city officials. Department of Water Management spokeswoman Megan Vidis responded: “I have no knowledge of a statue going up at Water Tower or what, if anything, we want to say about it?”
Joel Vieyra, the department’s first deputy commissioner, expressed his concern and opposition to putting the statue at Jane Byrne Park, which houses Water Tower Place.
“Pardon my ignorance here, but why would we want any statue placed adjacent to the Water Tower?” he wrote. “It’s the Water Tower — THE symbol of Chicago.”
For his part, Ralph Chiczewski, assistant commissioner for safety and security at the water department, objected to the planned news conference about the statue and expressed that the plan needed review.
“This is the first I am hearing about this press event! Water Tower Park is (water department) property. (The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events) has the management of the little art gallery inside the Historic Water Tower. DCASE has zero authority to allow any events there without prior approval and coordination!” Chiczewski wrote. “Over the years Water Tower park has been an assembly area and a flashpoint for demonstrations! Is (the Mother Jones Heritage Project) planning on erecting a statue in the park? I would hope that are NOT planning on announcing a statute being built on the property till it has been discussed and thoroughly vetted by DWM!”
For her part, water Commissioner Andrea Cheng told her staffers that the department “had no choice, decision pushed by others a while ago.”
“We have fought for the last year or so to have at least a say in the details and to take care for where it is placed so that the statue doesn’t damage underground utilities,” Cheng wrote. “In response to my previous protests they confirmed that DCASE would be responsible for removing graffiti/maintenance of the statue. As I assured them that given the large homeless population, damage would be inevitable. Yes, I understand this to be permanent.”
In response to a request for comment on the water department’s current position, Vidis released a statement saying they’re working to minimize the planned statue’s impact on the property.
“The Chicago Water Tower, Jane Byrne Park in which it is located and the pumping station across Michigan Avenue are part of the infrastructure of owned and operated by the Chicago Department of Water Management,” Vidis said in a statement this week. “That water pumping station provides drinking water to a large section of downtown. As such, DWM is focused on minimizing the impact any statue’s foundation would have on operational security as well as the below-ground infrastructure in that area.”
Feurer told the Tribune that “from the day that we were told of the selection of the Water Tower as the site, DCASE and Chicago Monuments staff emphasized that this was (the water department’s) property, that a Water Tower representative would be part of the commission for the monument to Mother Jones and the design would be cleared by them. That was long before December 2022 and this email exchange. We have had convivial discussions with the Water Tower representative on the design committee.”
Feurer continued: “We see the location at Water Tower as a way to fulfill Chicago Monuments Project’s aim to revision Chicago’s history from the bottom up. The title of the statue project is ‘We Shall Rise’ and this will help visitors to the area understand that working people’s aspirations are a part of Chicago history. The Water Tower has symbolized Chicago’s rise after the fire. But placement of the Mother Jones statue will connect that story to the rise of the labor movement, which can be directly linked to the Great Fire. The Water Tower and Mother Jones are both icons of that era, and both are emblematic of the fact that workers — Black and white, male and female, immigrant and native-born — built this city. Jones’ story reflects the rise of a multiethnic working class that made Chicago into a union city. So it is appropriate that staff chose this site for the location of the sculpture.”
Last month, the Tribune reported Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is moving forward with a plan to install a Mother Jones statue at Water Tower Place, a plan that is facing criticism from the late mayor’s daughter, Kathy Byrne, who argues that the plaza is too small for a statue and that it’s inappropriate to honor a woman who opposed giving other women the right to vote at a park named after the city’s first woman mayor.
The ongoing conflict highlights the challenges public officials face across the country as they wrestle with public monuments and the historical figures they represent. Chicago has more public artwork celebrating mythical women than real women, which the city hopes to address by honoring Jones, who became a national advocate for the rights of working people after her dressmaking shop burned down during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The water tower was one of the few structures in the area to survive. But the choice of location for the Jones statue, Kathy Byrne said, is tone-deaf.
“The Water department seems to be the only city agency involved that has any institutional knowledge of the history and significance of the Water Tower, both as to the Great Fire and as the cornerstone of our water system,” Byrne told the Tribune. “As they said, the Tower is the monument. It’s sad and infuriating that Water’s expertise is being disregarded by those who either don’t care about or are ignorant of Chicago history.”
