A 7-foot Peace Pole will rise near the fountain at Hodges Park after the Park Ridge Park District Board of Commissioners voted 7-0 on Thursday, Aug. 20, to approve the Rotary Club of Park Ridge's installation request.
The pole will stand on the east side of the park, roughly 30 feet from the Campfire Girls Fountain and 15 feet from the Vine Avenue sidewalk, according to the Journal & Topics. The spot puts it in one of Park Ridge's most visible public spaces. Hodges Park sits at the intersection of Vine, Main and Courtland avenues, directly north of City Hall, and hosts the city's annual summer concert series.
Peace Poles are monuments that display the phrase "May Peace Prevail on Earth" in multiple languages. More than 200,000 have been installed in communities on every continent, according to the World Peace Prayer Society. Each pole carries the message in the host country's primary language plus additional languages meaningful to the site.
The Rotary Club of Park Ridge proposed the project. No installation or dedication ceremony date has been publicly announced.
The fountain near which the pole will stand has its own deep local history. Originally dedicated in 1926, it was replaced in 1965 following the original design of Park Ridge sculptor Alfonso Iannelli and renovated again in 2007. Thirty history tablets naming important people, places and events in Park Ridge history now surround it.
The Park District board meets next at Prospect Park Wohlers Hall, 733 N. Prospect Ave.
