Benjamin F. Ferguson
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Benjamin Franklin Ferguson (died 1905) was an American
lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
merchant and co-founder of the ''Santee River Cypress Lumber Company''. The firm specialized in the harvesting of
old-growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...
timber from the
blackwater river A blackwater river is a type of river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. As vegetation decays, tannins leach into the water, making a transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained, resembling black te ...
bottomlands of central
South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...
, in and around the
Santee River } The Santee River is a river in South Carolina in the United States, and is long. The Santee and its tributaries provide the principal drainage for the coastal areas of southeastern South Carolina and navigation for the central coastal plain of ...
watershed. The tracts of land logged by Ferguson, in partnership with fellow logging executive
Francis Beidler Francis Beidler (1854 – March 4, 1924), was a Chicago-based lumberman active in the first decades of the 20th century. Biography Francis Beidler was born in Chicago in 1854. With partner Benjamin F. Ferguson, he was the co-founder and owner of ...
, included substantial tracts of valuable
bald cypress ''Taxodium distichum'' (bald cypress, swamp cypress; french: cyprès chauve; ''cipre'' in Louisiana) is a deciduous conifer in the family Cupressaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States. Hardy and tough, this tree adapts to a wide r ...
. With profits from the Santee River logging venture, Ferguson became a
philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
. His 1905 $1 million ($ million today) charitable trust gift funded seventeen of the most notable public monuments and sculptures in
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The works include
Lorado Taft Lorado Zadok Taft (April 29, 1860, in Elmwood, Illinois – October 30, 1936, in Chicago) was an American sculptor, writer and educator. His 1903 book, ''The History of American Sculpture,'' was the first survey of the subject and stood for decad ...
's ''
Fountain of Time ''Fountain of Time'', or simply ''Time'', is a sculpture by Lorado Taft, measuring in length, situated at the western edge of the Midway Plaisance within Washington Park in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. The sculpture is inspired ...
'' and ''
Fountain of the Great Lakes ''Fountain of the Great Lakes'', or ''Spirit of the Great Lakes Fountain'', is an allegorical sculpture and fountain by Lorado Taft. The bronze artwork, created between 1907 and 1913, depicts five women arranged so that the fountains waterfall r ...
'',
Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...
's ''
Nuclear Energy Nuclear energy may refer to: *Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity * Nuclear binding energy, the energy needed to fuse or split a nucleus of an atom *Nuclear potential energy ...
'' at
Chicago Pile-1 Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1) was the world's first artificial nuclear reactor. On 2 December 1942, the first human-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was initiated in CP-1, during an experiment led by Enrico Fermi. The secret development of t ...
and ''
Man Enters the Cosmos ''Man Enters the Cosmos'' is a cast bronze sculpture by Henry Moore located on the Lake Michigan lakefront outside the Adler Planetarium in the Museum Campus area of downtown Chicago, Illinois. The sculpture is a functional bowstring equatoria ...
'', and a work by
Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several ...
. Ferguson's gift set out terms whereby the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
was empowered to select subjects and sites for "The erection and maintenance of enduring statuary and monuments, in whole or in part of stone, granite or bronze in the parks, along the boulevards or in other public places." The Art Institute also funded
Carl Milles Carl Milles (; 23 June 1875 – 19 September 1955) was a Swedish sculptor. He was married to artist Olga Milles (née Granner) and brother to Ruth Milles and half-brother to the architect Evert Milles. Carl Milles sculpted the Gustaf Vasa statu ...
's ''Fountain of the Tritons'', which sits in its courtyard, with this fund, but by the 1930s began to tire of standard sculpture and sought a court ruling to include buildings within the terms of the agreement. In the 1950s, they used some of the funds to add a wing to the
Art Institute of Chicago Building The Art Institute of Chicago Building (1893 structure built as the ''World's Congress Auxiliary Building'') houses the Art Institute of Chicago, and is part of the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District in the Loop community are ...
, named the B. F. Ferguson Memorial Building. A relief sculpture of Benjamin Ferguson appears on the back on ''Fountain of the Great Lakes''. The fund also commissioned the recognizable ''The Bowman'' and ''The Spearman'' sculptures by
Ivan Meštrović Ivan Meštrović (; 15 August 1883 – 16 January 1962) was a Croatian sculptor, architect, and writer. He was the most prominent modern Croatian sculptor and a leading artistic personality in contemporary Zagreb. He studied at Pavle Bilinić's ...
on opposite sides of Congress Parkway at Michigan Avenue and in Grant Park. The fund has commissioned the ''
Illinois Centennial Memorial Column Illinois Centennial Memorial Column, Logan Square Monument or Illinois Centennial Monument is a public monument in the Logan Square community area and the Chicago Landmark and National Register of Historic Places-listed Logan Square Boulevards H ...
'' in
Logan Square Logan Square may refer to: * Logan Square, Chicago, a neighborhood on the north side of the city * Logan Circle (Philadelphia) or Logan Square, a park in Philadelphia **Logan Square, Philadelphia Logan Square is a neighborhood in Philadelphia. Bou ...
by
Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in the ...
architect,
Henry Bacon Henry Bacon (November 28, 1866February 16, 1924) was an American Beaux-Arts architect who is best remembered for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (built 1915–1922), which was his final project. Education and early career Henr ...
, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
' statehood. One of the more recent fundings was
Louise Bourgeois Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (; 25 December 191131 May 2010) was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a varie ...
's black granite ''The Waltz of Hands'' Jane Addams Memorial in 1996; however, the management of the fund has come under question in the 21st century. Ferguson lived in the Jackson Boulevard District of the Near West Side community area of Chicago, where he built a red brick Queen Anne house in 1883 that took up three city lots. The
ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...
of
Ferguson, South Carolina Ferguson is a ghost town, a former lumber-mill settlement, in Orangeburg County, South Carolina. It was a company town owned by Northern lumbermen Francis Beidler and Benjamin F. Ferguson, both of Chicago. The co-CEOs founded the Santee River ...
, named after Ferguson, contained the mills operated by the lumberman and his partner.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Benjamin 1905 deaths Philanthropists from Illinois Businesspeople from Chicago Year of birth missing