Inspired by a summer in Ireland, Lacy conceived a “guerilla” installation, one several months in planning. Late one night in May, 100 half-ton rock monuments were lifted off flatbed trucks by cherry pickers and plopped on the sidewalks of the Loop in downtown Chicago. Each limestone rock (from a woman-owned quarry in Oklahoma) bore a bronze plaque acknowledging contributions of a Chicago woman--ninety living today and ten from the City’s past. In a City with no major monuments to women, 100 sprang up overnight, heralded by media coverage and controversy that began early the next morning and lasted for months.

The monuments were the visible representation of a collective investigation by Lacy and dozens of collaborators in Chicago, who wanted to call attention to specific women who had actively shaped public life in Chicago. One of the most significant of these was Jane Addams, the social activist founder of the Hull House.