The Governor Henry Horner Memorial stands tall in Horner Park. It’s an imposing granite monument in the Art Deco style. Dedicated to the thirtieth governor of Illinois, Henry Horner served from 1933 until his death in 1940. It was originally located in Grant Park but was moved in 1956 to its current position. The memorial was sculpted by John David Brcin in 1948.
The monument tells the story of Horner’s life through visual representations of the two stages of his political career. One side of the memorial features Horner as probate judge. The other features Horner as governor. These represent his time as a reform-minded judge of Cook County Probate Court from 1914 to 1932 and as Illinois’s first Jewish governor.
Standing here in front of the monument, you can almost hear the echoes of Horner’s voice as he fought for social justice and economic equality during the Great Depression. His commitment to good government and public service is evident in the monument’s design. Carl Sandburg, the renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning author, was instrumental in ensuring that Horner’s legacy was immortalized in this impressive memorial.