Boy and Bear (Southfield Public Library)

01 / The story of this place

Make time for these

Sculptor Marshall Fredericks created Boy and Bear for the J. L. Hudson Company as one of several artworks commissioned for the opening of Northland Center in Southfield in 1954, then the largest and first regional shopping center in the United States. Fredericks carved the bear from limestone and gilded a bronze figure of a boy beside it, deliberately giving the animal a gentle, non-threatening look so it would appeal to children. The sculpture stood on the mall's terrace for six decades, becoming a landmark for generations of shoppers, until Northland Center closed in 2015. As the mall was being demolished, the City of Southfield paid $500,000 to acquire Boy and Bear along with other Northland artworks, and moved the sculpture into the atrium of the Southfield Public Library, where it now stands alongside statues of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mark Twain.

1. Sculpted by Marshall Fredericks for Northland Center's 1954 opening
2. Limestone bear paired with a gold-plated bronze figure of a boy
3. Stood at Northland Center for six decades until the mall closed in 2015
4. Moved to the Southfield Public Library atrium after the city bought it for $500,000