revisiting the montgomery ward building weathervane's severed head through postcards from the past

earlier this year i purchased a massive copper severed head from the 19th century "spirit of progress" thirty foot gargantuan weathervane (built by sculptor john massey rhind) that sat atop the montgomery ward building, designed in 1898 by the notable architectural firm of schmidt, garden & martin.

as the recently relocated bldg. 51 museum continues to take shape, the severed head of goddess diana now sits atop a pedestal staring directly at me while i'm at my desk, conducting research and consulting work. my eyes cannot help but gravitate towards her muted facial expression, frozen in time.

cultural historian tim samuelson and i have discussed her display potential time and again, with the hopes that she is displayed in the public realm - this is also a distant echo of sentiment expressed in an earlier post, when she was first acquired. when i purchased a few postcards of the montgomery ward building, from shortly after it was built, i noticed the arrows, comments and so on, from chicagoans and tourists alike, proudly writing their messages in the observatory tower resting directly beneath the statue. in fact, a few of the post cards even mention her, in addition to the sightly views overlooking grant park, michigan avenue and the lake.

i thought it would be interesting to gather as many postcards as possible, showing exactly where the weathervane was positioned in relation to the building supporting it, and perhaps the surrounding skyline. i also relish allowing these "voices from the past" to speak again, describing the statue as it was first seen, to the long gone recipients. the postcards that contain arrows pointing at the statue are of special interest to me, especially when they date the experience to soon after the weathervane was installed on the building.

in 1947 both the 125 ft. tower and "progress" weathervane were painstakingly dismantled, with the copper weathervane torched into approximately thirty pieces. the collection of body parts were claimed by several chicagoans seeking a souvenir from the world famous montgomery ward retail enterprise. a chicago tribune article from july 20, 1947 stated that a prominent chicagoan specifically requested her bust. around the same time, the david v. nelson family acquired the complete head of the statue, which now resides in the bldg. 51 collection.

updated on 1-5-2016: discovering past articles from the chicago tribune archives. more to follow. see below: