The Chicago Board of Trade's Statues
Symbolizing Agriculture and Industry
These two statues, one symbolizing agriculture and the other industry, once stood over the main entrance of the Board of Trade Building built in 1885. The statues greeted commodity traders and the public for 45 years. Thought lost forever when the building was demolished in 1929 to make way for the exchange’s current Art Deco structure, in 2005 they were graciously returned to their origins through the generosity and good will of the DuPage County Forest Preserve District.
Forest Preserve District official uncovered the twelve-foot, five and one-half ton granite statues at Hidden Lake Forest Preserve near Downers Grove, Illinois in 1978. The forest preserve was the former estate of Arthur Cutten, a prominent Chicago Board of Trade speculator of the early 1900’s. How the statues made the journey from LaSalle Street to the Cutten estate is a mystery.
Now a part of the LaSalle Street Plaza, the exchange’s symbolic statues serve as daily reminders of the vitality and creativity that fuel growth of the city of Chicago and the Chicago Board of Trade.
Rededicated June 9, 2005 by the Chicago Board of Trade
Marker is on West Jackson Boulevard near South LaSalle Street, on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
