Governor Henry Horner Memorial

Henry Horner was born Henry Levy on November 30, 1879 in Chicago. When his parents—Solomon Abraham Levy and Dilah Horner—divorced in 1883, he assumed his mother’s maiden name. Horner attended the Chicago Manual Training School before matriculating at the University of Chicago. After receiving his undergraduate degree, he enrolled in the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law, earning his law degree in 1898. Horner then embarked on a successful law career in the Windy City before being appointed a Cook County probate judge in 1914. Occupying the position for more than a decade and a half, he earned a reputation as being reform-minded judge. 

In 1932, Horner secured the Democratic Party’s nomination for governor of Illinois. That fall, he easily defeated his Republican opponent, former Illinois governor Len Small. With his victory, Horner became the first Jewish governor in the state’s history. Four years later, he comfortably won reelection, defeating Republican challenger Charles Wayland Brooks. During his tenure as governor of Illinois, Horner imposed new state taxes to raise revenue and match funds for federal projects. These new state taxes included a tax on personal property and real estate along with a two percent sales tax on alcohol (Prohibition was repealed by ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1933). Exercising fiscal responsibility during the Great Depression, he purged state payrolls of non-working patronage appointees, a move that angered Chicago’s Democratic political machine. Horner also cracked down on election fraud in the state by implementing a permanent voter registration system that featured signature matching to verify voters’ identities. 

During his second term in office, Horner suffered a coronary thrombosis, which consigned him to his bed for a period of time. Unfortunately, he never fully recovered from the cardiovascular event. Horner died on August 6, 1940. He was sixty years old. 

Several years after Horner’s death, a number of prominent Illinoisans, including U.S. Senator James M. Slattery and Illinois state senator Sydney R. Marovitz, formed the Horner Memorial Commission with the intent of erecting a memorial in honor of the former Illinois governor. Chaired by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and one-time Illinois resident Carl Sandburg, the group commissioned sculptor and Serbian immigrant John David Brcin to design the memorial. Completed by the artist in 1948, the memorial consists of a tall red granite stele adorned with Art Deco style bas-reliefs on each side. On the front, a bronze relief signifies Horner’s tenure as governor of Illinois. It depicts him standing in front of the state capitol. The reverse features a relief that denotes Horner’s time as a Cook County probate judge. It portrays him seated beneath a blindfolded female allegorical figure representing “Justice” holding a weighted scale. In both reliefs, many nameless men and women representing the people of Illinois flank Horner and frame the pieces. The memorial was originally installed in Chicago’s Grant Park near Buckingham Fountain. Less than a decade later, in 1956, it was moved to the northwest corner of the newly constructed Horner Park on the North Side of the city. 

"Governor Henry Horner Memorial." Chicago Park District. City of Chicago. Web. 3 April 2021 <https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/governor-henry-horner-memorial>.

"Henry Horner." National Governors Association. Web. 3 April 2021 <https://www.nga.org/governor/henry-horner/>.

"Henry Horner, Class of 1898." Chicago-Kent College of Law Alumni Association. Web. 3 April 2021 <https://alumni.kentlaw.iit.edu/alumni-distinction-henry-horner>.