Scenes from a hometown: Pioneer Family Memorial

I’m beginning a brief series of photos from my current home town of Elgin, Illinois. This sculpture of a pioneer family stands at the riverfront park downtown on the banks of the Fox River. It was created by Elgin native Trygve Rovelstad over the course of his lifetime. A renowned sculptor and medalist in the mid 1900s, Rovelstad started the work on this statue in the 1930s as a tribute to pioneers who settled in the Fox River valley.

During World War II, Rovelstad was named the first medalist sculptor for the U.S. War Department and created a number of medals, among them the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star.

Rovelstad, along with other civic leaders started a foundation in 1957 to raise funds to complete and erect the sculpture on the banks of the Fox. It was not until more than ten years following his death in 1990 before a number of government and civic entities joined forces to finance a bronze casting of his work and install it in a newly renovated downtown park, at last honoring the man whose creations honored others.

Click on pictures to enlarge. Photographs © 2005 James Jordan.