Spirit of Commerce
artwork by Gustave Haug
Spirit of Commerce is a public artwork by German artist Gustav Haug located in Jackson Park, which is on the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This zinc sculpture is 15 feet (4.6 metres) tall and sits on a red granite pedestal near the park's lagoon. It is the oldest public sculpture in Milwaukee.
Description
Spirit of Commerce depicts an allegorical female figure. The woman holds a quill in her proper right hand and a rudder in her proper left hand. A bag of money is at her feet. She wears a flowing robe. On the front of the pedestal, an engraved inscription reads, "Erected by the South Division Civic Association June 26, 1909." On the rear of the pedestal, an engraved inscription reads, "May this statue ever be a silent witness to the progress and growth of Milwaukee." The sculpture's base bears a plaque crediting the work to Gustav Haug with the date 1881.
Information
The sculpture was originally commissioned by architect Edward Townsend Mix for the Milwaukee Grain Exchange and Chamber of Commerce building, which is now known as the Mackie Building. Haug carved the sculpture in wood, and then Mix sent it to New York to be cast in zinc at a cost of $1,500.
The public source identifies “Spirit of Commerce” as artwork by Gustave Haug. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Spirit, Commerce and artwork.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7577960. The first chronological checks are 1909 and 1881.
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This entry incorporates text from “Spirit of Commerce” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.