Monument City Blog

On the front of the United Methodist Church in Mount Vernon Place is a tablet to Francis Scott Key. The plaque was created, in 1912, by Hans Schuler and marks the location of the lawyer’s death.  Key died of pleurisy in his daughter’s home, formerly located on this site, at the age of 64.

In 1835, the Bank of Maryland lost a large sum of their investors money. They decided not to pay back the cash and the people rioted, targeting the directors of the bank and any sympathizers.

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It should also be noted that, once a mob had formed, the bank’s investors continued to conduct themselves righteously. They caused no injuries, even though they were fired upon by the bank’s guards. They stole nothing nonpotable, despite the fact that the houses they sacked were brimming with valuables. They made sure to control their fires, and even voted on whether or not to burn a boatyard. As oxymoronic as it sounds, there was order to their destruction; morality to their violence. It is clear that the good of the community was a major issue; care was taken not to negatively affect anyone except those that had so carelessly jeopardized the savings of the people that had believed in them.

Fire department records from the time show that during the uprising firemen directed the protesters not to injure the Battle Monument.

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They fearlessly put out the fire of rich furniture piled up in front of the Battle Monument, and mingling policy with courage, induced the rioters to abstain from interference by telling them that the fire would injure the monument.

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The mayor (Jesse Hunt) issued a warning to citizens to remain at home; he then resigned.  Aging General Samuel Smith led the city’s firefighters, a detachment of United States Army regulars, and a group of armed citizens in patrolling the streets until the city was quiet again.

There were four Lady Baltimore statues at each corner of the Saint Paul Bridge from around 1880 until 1960, when the Fallsway project was completed.

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“In 1960, the bridge was given a major overhaul and the dames were dethroned. The four regal ladies were packed off to a grimy storage lot in the shadow of South Baltimore’s (now demolished) gas tanks. Freedom for the forgotten femmes didn’t come for 16 years, when new homes were found for them at last. Two of the ladies reside at Cylburn Arboretum, where they keep silent watch over the perennial garden.”

A third lady sits on Mount Royal Terrace, just north of the Colonel William Watson Monument, while the fourth was given to the  country of Ireland.

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“And where is the fourth Lady Baltimore? She’s some 3,000 thousand miles from her sisters. She sits in a field in County Longford, Ireland. In 1974, Baltimore’s branch of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick Society arranged to ship her to the old country as a goodwill gesture. She’s near Bal Tighe Mor Lane in what was once part of George Calvert’s baronial lands.”

I’m wondering how to handle historical monuments within cemeteries and graveyards… Should they be in their own category or should they be excluded from the collection? If they are included, we’ll almost certainly have to make some kind of criteria to at least narrow it down or define more specifically the scope and purpose of the collection. Thoughts?

Apparently Hans Schuler had created a model for the Lee and Jackson Monument but the commission went to Laura Gardin Frazer.  Great article on Baltimore’s most famous realist sculptor in the City Paper.  The author visits Schuler’s school and talks to his granddaughter.

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And there are models for sculptures that, like the Four Horsemen, never made it to full size. When I happened to make favorable mention of Laura Gardin Frazer’s Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson monument in Wyman Park, I saw a cloud pass over Franscesca Schuler’s face. Did I say something wrong? She pointed out her grandfather’s Lee and Jackson, in two small plaster versions. A committee, she said, gave Frazer the commission.

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The central bronze figure of the Union Soldiers and Sailor Monument, at the foot of the steep embankment of Druid Lake, is a soldier turning from the plow and anvil to the sword.  Unveiled in 1909, it is the work of A A Weinman.

• Picture at the Maryland Historical Society’s website

This is a great gallery of monument photos on the Maryland Historical Society’s website.

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The oldest tribute to Columbus still standing is in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a stone obelisk, erected in 1792 on his estate by Chevalier Charles D’Annemour, the French Consul to the city. In the 1960s, however, the monument was moved to the Samuel Ready Institute on North Avenue and Harford Road.

It looks like this is W North Avenue and W Mount Royal Ave, where the Watson Monument is.

Inventory of Maryland Monuments by County , a list without a great deal of information, but a handy reference nonetheless…