Monthly Archives: December 2012

SL9B:  Motif Number 1, Rockport, Massachusetts, June 2012

A notecard provided the following information:

A fisherman’s shack on  Bearskin Neck’s – Bradley Wharf in the harbor of Rockport, Massachusetts, USA, is one of the most famous buildings in the world, recognizable to students of art and art history as Motif Number 1.

In 1933, the Rockport American Legion Post. No. 98 built a 27’ scale model of ‘Motif No.1’ for the Legion Parade, which was held in Chicago, Illinois, site of the 1933 World’s Fair. Designed by A. Hibbard & A. Thieme, with participation by the RAA, Board of Trade and townspeople ‘from high to low’, the float was commissioned in June, completed by the end of September, and driven in daylight only, from Rockport to Chicago, in less than a week. On October 3, 1933, among 200 floats, it won first place in the historic float competition . Upon the float’s return to Rockport a crowd of over 4,000 people lined up & down the Great Hill (5 corners) to welcome the float home. The float faded away, the Motif endured.

Here on the picture the Motif Float is parked on Granite Pier. Everything was built to scale, barrels contained carved cod and wooden lobsters. The boats were half-hulled to the water line and a canvas painted with reflecting waves hung to within one inch of the ground.