in Kosciuszko Park
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
A South Side Icon
The Thaddeus Kosciuszko Monument is located in Kosciuszko Park, in historic “Lincoln Village”, on Milwaukee's South Side. It is proudly poised facing south on Lincoln Avenue at 9th Place. Milwaukee's Polish community presented the Kosciuszko Monument to the City of Milwaukee in 1905. Sixty thousand people attended the dedication. The statue originally stood at the north end of Kosciuszko Park, near Becher Street, but was moved to its present location in 1951. Over the years, countless parades, patriotic celebrations, political meetings, and other important events have been held in the shadow of the Kosciuszko Monument. Those who grew up in the neighborhood refer to the monument, with affection, as the "Kozy statue" and cherish many fond memories associated with it.
photos courtesy of:
Collection: Kwasniewski, Roman B.J., 1886 – 1980
Repository: Archives, UW - Milwaukee Libraries
Rights: The Board of Regents of the UW System
Publisher: UW - Milwaukee Libraries
Gaetano Trentanove - Sculptor
Gaetano Trentanove lived from 1858-1937 and created this monument in 1905. As a professor of sculpture at the Florence Academy he maintained studios in Italy and the United States. Trentanove studied old portraits and paintings of Kosciuszko before beginning the clay models for this equestrian work of art. He sculpted Kosciuszko and his horse as victorious heroes. In the modeling of the sculpture, twenty tons of clay were used. A plaster cast followed, with the second and final bronze casting executed by the Galli Brothers foundry in Florence. After a long journey to Milwaukee, the sculptor himself directed the placement of the seven-ton statue.
Trentanove’s naturalistic style attracted many portrait commissions in Milwaukee. He would model his subjects in clay during the spring or summer months, return to Italy with cast plaster models in the fall, have the bust cast in bronze or carved in marble in the winter, and return to Milwaukee with the finished portraits the next year. Locally you can see other samples of the sculptor’s work at the Milwaukee Art Museum, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and Wahl Park.
