The Bear, watching over Glenview from a perch on top of a pillared statue, made his official debut on September 15, 1917. The bear has become the symbolic representation of the Village of Glenview and is featured on the village logo.
When dedicated in 1917, virtually the entire town of Glen View (population around 700) turned out for the dedication of the "Children's Fountain". Everyone from Village dignitaries to school children took part. Music was furnished by a band from Great Lakes Naval Training Center.
The original site for the "Children's Fountain" was the southeast corner of Glenview Road and Pine Street, where today an apartment and retail complex stands. In 1946, when a fire station was built on the site (which was torn down in 2013 for the Midtown apartment-retail project), the Bear was moved, and the moved again, before occupying its current site in a plaza adjacent to Jackman Park.
The highlight was Edwin Jackman's dedication speech .
The Village instituted an annual celebration of the event in 1918. Called "Fountain Day", the celebration evolved into Glenview Days a few years later. Glenview Days festivities included water fights between fire companies, tumbling clowns, tricycle parades for boys, doll parades for girls, a Mardi Gras-like costume parade, street dances and baseball games. The last Glenview Days was held in 1957.
The Fountain
The fountain of metal and concrete was designed by the architecture firm Holabird & Roche. Sculptor Andrew O'Connor was commissioned by Edwin Jackman to create the fountain. Images of Native American faces run along the top of the pedestal, with animal images appearing on the length of the pillar. The bear at the top holds an iron bar in his mouth, from which two lamps hang.
The fountain originally served three purposes:
With the horse and buggy still the principal means of travel in 1917, the lower portion was a large basin, or trough, for the watering of horses. A lion's head once poured water into the trough, which was later converted to a bird bath.
A smaller basin near the bottom, which no longer exists, served to water dogs and small animals.
Two spigots served both children and adults with drinking water.
Edwin Stanton Jackman
Edwin Stanton Jackman (1865-1927), who resided at 57 Overlook Drive, Golf, made his fortune through E. S. Jackman and Company, as the Chicago agent for Firth-Sterling Steel Company. He claimed to "have been selling steel to railroads since his 20th birthday," and celebrated his 50th birthday with a pamphlet that paid tribute "to American railroads and the men who run them."
A philanthropist whose generosity benefited Glen View, he was known to also be fond of children, horses, dogs and history. Exactly why Jackman gave Glenview the fountain and what it symbolizes -- particularly the Bear -- remain a matter of conjecture.
He and his wife, Harriet, had no children but doted on their nephews. In 1919, Jackman donated a second fountain, "The Spirit of Youth," to the Glen View Golf and Polo Club, a bronze sculpture featuring Boy Scouts that was also created by Andrew O'Connor.
Jackman died in 1927 while on vacation in Santa Barbara, Calif.
TIMELINE
1917 -- The Bear fountain is dedicated on September 15, near the southeast corner of Glenview Road and Pine Street.
1929 -- The Glenview Park District purchased its first park site, the land to the north of the former Village Hall at 1930 Prairie Street, and named it Jackman Park.
1946 -- The Bear fountain is moved to an "undistinguished spot" in Jackman Park when a building housing the Fire Department was built on the 1800 block of Glenview Road.
1963 -- The Bear fountain is refurbished and moved near 1930 Prairie Street, which then housed Village Hall and the Glenview Days Community Association.
"Seek Funds For Repair Of Fountain" May 9, 1963
"Association To Finance Restoration of Fountain" July 25, 1963
1967 -- A 1-hour program marked the golden anniversary of the Bear fountain's dedication.
"Glenview Will Honor Its Grand Old Bear" September 14, 1967
1999 -- As part of the Village's centennial celebration, the Bear fountain is recast and placed in a centennial plaza established at the southeast entrance to Jackman Park.
Watch the Dedication Day Ceremony -- May 20, 1999
"Bear focal point of Centennial Plaza" May 27, 1999
2017 -- The 100th anniversary of the 1917 dedication was held on September 17, 2017.
Source: "Jackman Park Bear" located on the Village of Glenview website
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