The John Plankinton statue is a lifelike representation of
the businessman and industrialist. It took the sculptor
Richard Henry Park
Richard Henry Park (also Richard Hamilton Park; February 17, 1838—November 7, 1902) was an American sculptor who worked in marble and bronze. He was commissioned to do work by the wealthy of the nineteenth century. He did a marble bust of John ...
six months to make and was initially placed in the Plankinton House Hotel in downtown Milwaukee in 1892. The property in 1916 was redeveloped into the
Plankinton Arcade shopping plaza. The property was again redeveloped in the 1970s into the John Plankinton Mall at the same location where the hotel once stood. The latest redevelopment of the property occurred in 1980 to 1982 and renamed the Shops of Grand Avenue. The statue was restored in 2012 and placed on a pedestal becoming a permanent part of the shopping plaza. It is now viewed by hundreds of shoppers daily.
Description and history
The background history of the bronze statue starts shortly after businessman
John Plankinton
John Plankinton (March 11, 1820 – March 29, 1891) was an American businessman. He is noted for expansive real estate developments in Milwaukee, including the luxurious Plankinton House Hotel designed as an upscale residence for the wealthy. ...
's death in March 1891. The idea for a statue or bust was proposed seven months later in October 1891.
Richard Henry Park
Richard Henry Park (also Richard Hamilton Park; February 17, 1838—November 7, 1902) was an American sculptor who worked in marble and bronze. He was commissioned to do work by the wealthy of the nineteenth century. He did a marble bust of John ...
, known as the Florentine sculptor, had already done statues for the Plankinton family, so was commissioned by
his son William to make the bronze statue in 1892.
Park, who spent six months in Chicago working on the John Plankinton bronze statue,
[ was perhaps a surprising choice as Park had betrayed ]Elizabeth Plankinton
Elizabeth Ann or Anne Plankinton (July 27, 1853 – 1923) was an American philanthropist in the early 20th century, the daughter of Milwaukee businessman John Plankinton. She was also known as "Miss Lizzie" and the people of Milwaukee called ...
(John's daughter) and married another woman in 1887, leaving her disappointed and distraught.Shops of Grand Avenue
The Avenue (previously known as The Grand Avenue, The Shops of Grand Avenue and Shops of Grand Avenue) is an urban shopping plaza currently under renovation that spans three city blocks in the downtown neighborhood of Westown in Milwaukee, Wiscon ...
or sometimes shortened to The Grand shopping plaza. Grand Avenue was the name of a 19th-century prestigious street and is now called Wisconsin Avenue. In 2012 restoration work was done to the bronze statue that took several months. Afterwards it was returned to its base made by the American Bronze Company. This base at the foot of the bronze statue is titled ''John Plankinton 1820 – 1891.'' The statue on its pedestal is now a permanent part of the shopping plaza and is viewed by hundreds daily.[
]
Bronze statue views
File:John Plankinton statue 17.jpg
File:Holabird & Roche pirouette.jpg
File:John Plankintona1a.jpg
File:John Plankinton statue 18.jpg
Renovation work
File:John Plankinton statue removal8.jpg
File:John Plankinton 9b.jpg
File:John Plankinton statue removal7a.jpg
File:John Plankinton statue removal2.jpg
References
External links
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{{MilwaukeePublicArt, state=expanded
1892 sculptures
Bronze sculptures in Wisconsin
Monuments and memorials in Wisconsin
Sculptures of men in Wisconsin
Statues in Wisconsin