Bohemian National Cemetery-- Part 11: The Pilgrim Statue

The statue depicting an older woman shrouded in long robes, was designed by Czech-born sculptor Albin Polasek.  It is one of his two works displayed at the Bohemian cemetery --the other, Mother, is located just outside the crematorium.

Polasek moved from New York to Chicago in 1916, to become the head of the department of modeling and sculpture at the Chicago Art Institute.  The life-size sculpture was commissioned as a memorial to Frantiska Stejskal, the mother of the Stejskal-Buchel families, and shows a woman walking toward the family's mausoleum.

Other examples of his work in the Chicago-area include  the 7-foot-tall The Sower at the Chicago Botanic Garden (sporting a face mask these days but otherwise in the buff) and Spirit of Music in Grant Park.  These statues have not yet been taken down by certain people.

Chicago's National Bohemian Cemetery-- Part 6: Civil War and Spanish-American War Memorials

CIVIL WAR VETERANS MEMORIAL

I'll write more about this in my Saw the Elephant: Civil War blog.

Dedicated in 1892.  Said to be the first Bohemian soldiers monument in America.

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SPANISH AMERICAN WAR VETERANS MEMORIAL

If this statue looks familiar, then you've probably seen it in another cemetery or outside a government building in another state. The 8 1/2-foot-tall figure atop a granite boulder "represents the veteran as he appeared in the ranks" during the 1898 war, according to the Chicago Tribune story on the statues unveiling in September 1926.

A cross-shaped plaque listing the names of 147 Spanish-American War veterans was added in 1964.

WW I & Chicago Ethnic Groups-- Part 8: Pushing the Train

The tribune chronicled the story of these men, including one man, Corporal Zmrhal, a member of the Czech Legion who continued on and was in Chicago when the fighting stopped on November 11, 1918.  Jubilant crowds gathered in the Loop and the neighborhoods of what the Tribune claimed was "the world's greatest melting pot city."

Zmrhal, whose first name was not given, addressed the Czech community's celebration in Sokol Hall at Kedzie Avenue and 24th Street.  he spoke about the the hardship and hard work involved in nation-building.  One example was when the legion's train ran out of fuel in Siberia.

Zmhal said: "The men alighted and by muscular force pushed the heavy train for 16 miles until a village, where fuel was available, was reached."

Might Have Been Easier To Walk to the Village and Get the Fuel.  --DaCoot

WW I & Ethnic Chicago-- Part 7: The 50,000 Man Bohemian Army

When a Czechoslovakian independence leader visited Chicago enormous crowds of Bohemians lined the streets between the North Western Railway station and the Blackstone Hotel, where he was staying.

The Tribune reported:  "More than 200,000 cheering Bohemians turned out... to welcome... Professor Tomas Masaryk, commander in chief of the Bohemian revolutionary armies.

"In his Bohemian address, the speaker said he had left behind him in Russia a fully equipped army of 50,000 Bohemians."   This army had quite a story.  They had been conscripted by the Austrians and captured by the Russians.

They set off for Prague, but knew the Germans would block them going west so, they headed east across Siberia, fighting communists and czarists.  Upon reaching the Pacific, they sailed to Europe..

It's Total War.  --Cooter