Three Names at Two Locations for One Schiller Monument

Reposted with permission from Local History ROCs!

As one walks or drives along Andrews Street in downtown Rochester, one cannot help noticing the large monument in Schiller Park. Its subject, Friedrich von Schiller, was a German poet, playwright, and philosopher. He is perhaps best known to contemporaries for his poem “An die Freude” (“Ode to Joy”), the lyrics of which are central to the fourth movement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

Schiller never left Germany and has no connection to Rochester. So why is there a memorial to him here?

Contemporary view of Schiller Park and Memorial. From: City of Rochester.

The story begins at the junction of East Main Street, North Union Street, and University Avenue. When Rochester’s park system was being developed in the 1890s, critics complained of the relative dearth of parks on the city’s east side, where a considerable portion of Rochesterians lived.

A piece of property at the aforementioned juncture popularly known as Riley Triangle was identified by the city fathers as an appropriate site for such a park.

The land was owned by George S. Riley, a real estate broker and investor. He sold the parcel to Hector McLean, who then sold it to the city in 1904 for $20,800. Riley Triangle was officially renamed Anderson Park in 1905 to honor Martin Brewer Anderson, the first President of the University of Rochester.

Portion of the 1875 Rochester Plat Map showing the triangular future site of Anderson Park located at the juncture of East Main Street (diagonal at top), North Union Street (at right), and University Avenue (at bottom). From: City of Rochester Plat Map 1875.

1905 also marked the centenary of Friedrich von Schiller’s death. As the anniversary approached, the German societies in Rochester met to establish a suitable memorial to him. The goal was to commission a bronze bust on a marble pedestal to be featured in one of the city parks. A fundraising campaign began on December 18, 1904, and concluded four years later, after amassing $5,500 (equivalent to $191,891 today).

Why did the German societies want a memorial to Schiller? In his dedicatory remarks, speaker William E. Werner noted,

Schiller is the poet of freedom. That is what makes him a world poet, and in a very peculiar sense an American poet . . . The cry of freedom, which is the dominant note in all of Schiller’s writings found a sympathetic response in the great heart of the American people. The quiescent spirit of liberty which his impassioned poetry fanned into a living flame in the Mother Country, later found its logical manifestation in that great flood of immigration to our shores.

The “living flame in the Mother Country” refers to Germany’s short-lived Revolution of 1848, which sought popularly elected parliaments in the German states, written constitutions, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly, aspects of political life with which Americans were familiar.

When the revolt failed, many revolutionaries fled to the United States. Consequently, many freedom-seeking German immigrants and their descendants in Rochester looked to Schiller as their inspiration and spokesman.

Inscription on the Schiller monument describing Schiller as the “Poet of Freedom and Justice.” Photo by: Christopher Brennan, 2023.

Two central questions about the memorial confronted the planning committee: who would design the monument and where would it be placed. Sixty-five artists submitted proposals to the design commission, with the winning bid going to Carl August Heber of New York.

Both Seneca Park and Franklin Square (at the corner of Franklin and Andrews Streets) were suggested as potential homes for the monument as they were located in areas with large German populations, but it was ultimately placed in Anderson Park. Twenty German American societies participated in the memorial’s dedication with great fanfare on November 26, 1908.

The monument’s location within Anderson Park. From: City of Rochester Plat Map, 1910.

A circa 1938 photo of the monument in Anderson Park. From: City of Rochester.

The Schiller Memorial remained in Anderson Park for the next 50 plus years until the greenspace was demolished to make way for the Inner Loop. In April 1964, the City relocated the memorial to Franklin Square, which was promised to be a “permanent small park.”

The site was chosen not only because it was one of the original locales considered, but also because an oak tree in the park had been planted there by the German American Societies on July 4, 1876, to honor the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

A circa 1906 postcard depicting Franklin Square Park decades prior to its bifurcation by the Inner Loop. From: the Collection of the Rochester Public Library’s Local History & Genealogy Division.

Given the site’s connections to both the local German community and the American revolutionary spirit, it made an ideal home for the Schiller monument. Franklin Square was officially renamed Schiller Park on July 14, 1964, and the memorial was rededicated the following month on August 23, 1964.

For Further Information:

• “Collections of $1,000 Reported,” Democrat and Chronicle, January 30, 1905, p. 14.

• “Germans Unveil Bust of Schiller,” Democrat and Chronicle, November 27, 1908, p. 10.

• “Grand Stand to be Built Soon: Improvements in Genesee Valley Park: New Name for Triangle,” Democrat and Chronicle, May 26, 1905, p. 10.

• “In Memory of Schiller,” Democrat and Chronicle, December 20, 1904, p. 15.

• Mitchell Kaidy, “Loop Evictee: Franklin Square to Get Schiller Monument,” Democrat and Chronicle, December 21, 1962, p. 6.

• “The Riley Triangle,” Democrat and Chronicle, June 17, 1890, p. 7.

• “Schiller Bust Nearly Finished,” Democrat and Chronicle, May 4, 1908, p. 11.

• “Schiller Monument May Be Placed in One of the Small City Parks,” Democrat and Chronicle, March 19, 1906, p. 11.

• “Schiller Memorial to Move,” Democrat and Chronicle, August 12, 1962, p. 11B.

• “Schiller Memorial To-Night,” Democrat and Chronicle, May 14, 1905, p. 21.     

• “The Schiller Statue and Its Location,” Democrat and Chronicle, January 27, 1905, p. 6.“They Want That Park,” Democrat and Chronicle, February 13, 1896, p. 12.

• “To Increase the Monument Fund,” Democrat and Chronicle, September 25, 1905.

• Jack Tucker, “Poet Faces Eviction from Home in Park,” Democrat and Chronicle, January 13, 1961, p. 13.

• Pat Ziska, “Never Resting, Homeless: Permanent Spot for Schiller,” Democrat and Chronicle, April 21, 1964, p. 1B.

Related Posts:

Bringing Schiller Park Back to Life

Out of the Loop: A Before and After Look at the Neighborhoods of the Inner Loop