Archive for April, 2009
Captain John O’Donnell Monument in Canton
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O’Donnell Street & S Curley Street (Street View)
GPS: 39° 16′ 48.74″ N 76° 34′ 29.60″ W
History
Merchant John O’Donnell settled in Baltimore Town in 1780. Known as “The Father of the Potomac Canal,” O’Donnell eventually purchased a large piece of waterfront land east of Fells Point. Already a successful businessman, the Irish-born Captain established an economic foundation in Canton that sustained through the Great Depression. A captain in the East India Trading Company when he arrived on Maryland’s shores, O’Donnell wore many hats, and his various business interests made him one of the richest men in the country during his lifetime. The monument was created by artist Tylden Streett, a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, who also sculpted the Firefighter’s Memorial next to Zion Church.
Notes
Inside a fence in Canton Square, the memorial stands in a well-maintained garden. A plaque reads: “Captain John O’Donnell, the founder of the Canton Community was man of great vision and accomplishment. He initiated trade between Canton, China and Baltimore in 1785 operating his own merchant sailing vessels. This public square, once the site of Canton Market, is dedicated in his honor.” The monument was surveyed in 1993 and is in excellent condition.
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Baltimore’s Hiker Statue
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E Fayette Street & N Lakewood Avenue (Street View)
GPS: 39° 17′ 40.57″ N 76° 34′ 45.60″ W
History
Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson is a Massachusetts born sculptor known for her dignified realist style. The student and husband of artist Henry Hudson Kitson, Theo studied in Paris and was recognized for her work by the age of nineteen. Her most famous work is The Hiker, a monument to soldiers who fought in the Spanish-American War. The conflict occurred at the end of the 19th century, and was waged in Cuba, the Philippines and Guam. Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders were crucial in the Cuban campaign, fighting in the important Battle of San Juan Hill. The engagements ended in four months with the United States winning easily. The side-by-side fighting of Northerners and Southerners helped heal the wounds opened during the American Civil War. Mrs. Kitson was commissioned to create over fifty Hiker statues during her lifetime, memorializing the common soldier throughout the country. She passed away in 1932.
Notes
Unveiled in June of 1943, the monument stands in the median between eastbound and westbound Fayette Street. A cannon rests just outside the small fence surrounding the statue. The hiker is carrying a musket in both hands, a bag over his right shoulder and canteen over his other. It appears the dedication plaques are missing from the base of the structure. Patterson Park is two blocks south.
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Links
- Spanish-American War
- On Panoramio [2] & Flickr
Francis Scott Key Death Marker in Mount Vernon
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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. The historic Asbury House, designed by J. Rudolph Niernsee and James Crawford Neilson, is next door.
Lady Baltimore Statue in Reservoir Hill
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Mount Royal Terrace & Lennox Street (Street View)
GPS: 39° 18′ 42.64″ N 76° 37′ 34.53″ W
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Baltimore’s 1729 town charter, the citizens and government threw an elaborate party and parade. To commemorate the event, the artist Herman Henning was commissioned to create four Lady Baltimore statues to be placed at each corner of the ornate old Saint Paul Street bridge. For close to 80 years the monuments greeted locals as they crossed over the Jones Falls and railroad tracks, leaving or entering downtown. In 1960, the bridge was renovated as part of the Jones Falls Expressway project. The span was overhauled and the ladies were moved to new locations. Three were placed at Cylburn Arboretum in northern Baltimore, while a fourth was given to Ireland by Baltimore’s Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick Society.
At some point, members of the Bolton Hill neighborhood lobbied city government to have one of Cylburn’s three Lady Baltimore statues placed in Mount Royal Terrace Park. The city agreed and community members (some of which are retired Baltimore park system workers) began preparing the landscape for the monument. They had a sloping dirt mound built on the east side of the park and two urns were placed at the foot of the bank. For the statue’s foundation the neighborhood used a combination old cobblestones removed from city streets and recycled marble from razed homes. The Lady Baltimore occupies the former location of Hans Schuler’s Martin Luther Monument (now at Lake Montebello).
The Lady Baltimore loosely holds a sledgehammer in her right hand, while a shield, with the Battle Monument on it’s front, rests to her left. An anchor, gear, anvil and steam engine are represented around the base of the sculpture. Situated in a small park at the foot of Druid Hill, the statue sits inside the well-maintained Mount Royal Terrace Park. A plaque adorns the front of the structure, listing the Commissioner and Engineer of the Saint Paul Street bridge.
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Links
- On Panoramio [2] & Flickr [2] [3]
- City Paper Article
- Old St. Paul St. Bridge photos
The 1835 Bank of Maryland Riots
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.
[Source]
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.
[Source]
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.
[Source]
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.
Fallsway Fountain Monument
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E Biddle Street & Guilford Avenue (Street View)
GPS: 39° 18′ 12.00″ N 76° 36′ 42.60″ W
History
The Jones Falls Expressway is a mostly above ground thoroughfare connecting the northern suburbs of Baltimore to downtown. Created around 1960, the motorway is the city’s main north-south artery. The highway project started where the old Fallsway system ended. The Fallsway was a massive public works project that took place between 1911-1916, consisting of elevated downtown roads that passed over the Jones Falls waterway. The stream, impounded at Lake Roland in north Baltimore, eventually empties into the Inner Harbor.
The Fallsway ended dangerous overflows onto city streets, making travel in downtown safer and more efficient. Parallel to the creation of this roadway, a new sewage and water system was built. Before the government opened the works, they arranged a tour of the operations by automobiles, impressing the local media. James Harry Preston, who served as Mayor from 1911-1919, spearheaded the effort. A monument, sculpted by Hans Schuler, was erected to commemorate the Fallsway.
Notes
Installed at Eager Street and the Fallsway, in 1915, the fountain was re-located by Mayor Theodore McKeldin in 1967. After comparing postcards from the early 20th century, it appears that the monument was only moved a few blocks north during the expressway’s creation.
The statue is of a woman holding a shield in one arm and a vase, that once poured water, in the other. She is sitting atop a pedestal inscribed with the names of commission members involved in the Fallsway’s development and completion. The pool at the structure’s front is now filled with dirt, the fountain long since operational. Theodore Wells Pietsch served as architect.
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Lizette Woodworth Reese Monument
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1035 E 33rd Street, across from the YMCA (Street View)
GPS: 39° 19′ 41.26″ N 76° 36′ 5.62″ W
History
Born and raised in the Waverly community, Lizette Woodworth Reese was a Baltimore public school teacher for forty-seven years. In the 1890s, she began drawing praise for her rural-themed poems. Her highest regarded piece is the sonnet Tears from her 1909 collection A Wayside Lute. She was co-founder of the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore, serving as chairman of poetry until her death in 1935.
Hand-chiseled in marble by artist Grace H. Turnbull, the sculpture depicts a Shepard and his herd. In-line with Lizette Reese’s country style, the memorial is a reference to the above-mentioned poem, Tears. Another piece by Turnbull on public display in Baltimore is the Naiad statue in the eastern section of Mount Vernon Place. The playful sculpture sits in a fountain between the bronze casts of George Peabody and Severn Teackle Wallis. In stark contrast to the style of the Reese Monument, the Naiad is sensual and mysterious. Grace Turnbull was many artists. She was a writer, a painter and a sculptor. She never smoked, drank or read newspapers, her life an example of her philosophies. A woman of inherited wealth, she never had to take orders for her work. After graduating from the Maryland Institute of Art, Turnbull traveled the world in search of inspiration, yet she always returned to her home in Charm City. Her Spanish style house in Waverly was designed by her architect brother and contains four sculpted exterior beams, each containing religious imagery. The yard surrounding the estate is littered with her work, fine art springing out amidst the garden landscape. The residence and its contents were auctioned off last November for $315,000. Grace Turnbull died in 1976 at the age of ninety-five.
Notes
Entitled the Good Shepard, the memorial was dedicated, in 1939, on the grounds of Baltimore’s Eastern High School. In 1986, the school closed down and merged with Lake Clifton High, a campus not far down the road. At some point the sculpture was placed at Clifton where it temporarily resided until April of this year, when it was returned to its original home on 33rd street. In May, two dedication plaques were placed at either side of the marble monument. The historic Eastern High building is now occupied by Johns Hopkins University. Memorial Stadium once stood directly across the street.
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Lee & Jackson Monument in Charles Village
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Art Museum Drive & Wyman Park Drive (Street View)
GPS: 39° 19′ 27.48″ N 76° 37′ 11.65″ W
History
Dedicated on May 1st, 1948, this monument is by artist Laura Gardin Fraser and was paid for by the $100,000 left in J. Henry Ferguson’s will, who idolized the Confederate generals as a youth. Ferguson died in 1928, a design contest was held in 1935 and Fraser won the commission. Architect John Russell Pope created the base and the dedication took place on the anniversary of the eve of the Battle of Chancellorsville (1863).
On April 18th of 1861, as Civil War hostilities heated up, Lee turned down an offer to become a major general in the US Army, resigned two days later and took up leadership of the Virginia state forces on April 23. General Lee was appointed general-in-chief to the Confederate army on January 31st, 1865. He was quickly named one of the five full generals of the Confederate States of America, but refused to wear the insignia of general, instead wearing the stars of a confederate colonel, equivalent to his last rank in the US Army.
Lee is depicted in this double equestrian monument astride his famed horse, Traveller. Stonewall Jackson (depicted astride “Little Sorrel”) is considered by some to be “one of the most gifted tactical commanders in United States history.” Jackson was accidentally shot by Confederate pickets during the Battle of Chancellorsville. His left arm was amputated but he survived for eight days, at which point he died due to complications of pneumonia. Upon hearing the news, Lee is said to have pronounced, “He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right.” Completion of this monument was held up by the onset of WWII, and there is a note inscribed on the base thanking the business partners for honoring pre-war contracts and pricing of materials.
Notes
This statue rests at a beautiful high-traffic geographic location within the Remington/Charles Village neighborhoods. The land slopes southward dramatically behind the figures down to the valley of Wyman Park. According to the sculptor, the geography itself mimics the conditions at Chancellorsville. The Baltimore Museum of Art is visible just up the street.
This monument is extremely well-kept and one may often find memorial wreaths and other artifacts laid around its base. Each year, Civil War reenactors meet to commemorate the birthdays of Lee and Jackson on January 19, 1807 and January 21, 1824 respectively. Until recently, the Clipper Room at Shriver Hall on Johns Hopkins campus was rented out for post-celebration festivities. But the annual rental has been disallowed by Hopkins’ new president. A writer for the Maryland Record has even called for this extraordinary historical statue to be razed on account of the Confederate ideals which it commemorates.
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Links
- On Panoramio [2] & Flickr [2]
- Smithsonian entry
Martin Luther Monument at Lake Montebello
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Hillen Road & E 32nd Street (Street View)
GPS: 39° 19′ 39.52″ N 76° 35′ 19.59″ W
History
Unveiled on October 31, 1936, the Martin Luther Monument is the work of Baltimore’s Hans Schuler. After studying at the Rinehart School of Sculpture, Schuler traveled to France with fellow artists Edward Berge and J. Maxwell Miller to continue his studies. In 1901, he won the Salon Gold Medal in Paris, the first American to do so. One of the city’s premiere sculptors, Schuler was director of the Maryland Institute College of Art from 1935 to 1951, resigning a year before his death.
A gift of a prominent local jeweler, Arthur Wallenhorst, the 18-foot tall statue of Luther once greeted visitors at the Mount Royal entrance to Druid Hill Park. In 1959 it was moved to it’s current spot over-looking Lake Montebello. A second statue of the German protestant, also by Schuler, was erected in 1947 at the The Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Notes
Situated in a small park on the southwest side of the lake, Martin Luther’s likeness gestures sternly with right hand raised. Two benches once flanked the statue, but only their supports remain. Baltimore’s Commission for Historical & Architectural Preservation has been maintaining the monument since 1980.
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Mothers’ Garden in Clifton Park
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Harford Road & E 32nd Street (Street View)
GPS: 39° 19′ 37.64″ N 76° 35′ 1.89″ W
History
The Board of Park Commissioners dedicated the garden to all the mothers of Baltimore in 1926. Two years later a tablet was fitted to a stone and placed at the site, marking the memorial. Mayor William Donald Schaefer rededicated the garden in 1984 to his mom Tululu Schaefer. In recent years, the Coldstream Homestead Montebello Community Corporation introduced a plan to improve the facilities of Clifton Park, including Mothers’ Garden. Once the summer home of Johns Hopkins, Clifton was the intended site for the university bearing his name, but was deemed too far from the city’s core. Instead, the land was turned into a municipal golf course and community park.
Notes
At the northern tip of Clifton Park, the memorial is a strangely peaceful place. A small domed edifice surrounded by benches sits on top of the hill, and a pedestrian bridge crosses a forgotten pond. Situated between Harford Road and the golf course’s 5th hole green, Mothers’ Garden is across the street from Montebello Elementary School.
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