Mechanics Monument - San Francisco, CA - Figurative Public Sculpture on Waymarking.com

" At the intersection of Market, Bush and Battery Streets stands a majestic bronze sculpture which is hard to pass by without gazing up in awe at its magnificent display of muscles and manhood. This masterwork is the Mechanics Monument, the work of the sculptor some have called the Michelangelo of the West, Douglas Tilden. The monument turned 100 years old on May 15, 2001. Behind this heroic work is a fascinating story of two men that could only come from San Francisco.
In 1846, a certain Mr. Adna Hecox and his daughter Catherine joined a group of pioneers heading west. The group was the infamous Donner Party. Fortunately for Hecox and his little girl, they separated from the Donners before their tragic fate in the Sierras. Hecox would arrive at the coast, and not long after became the last mayor in Santa Cruz to serve under Spanish rule.
Catherine Hecox met Dr. William Peregrine Tilden, a physician, when she attracted his attention as she brought her younger brother in to see him for medical treatment. He married her when she was only age 14. He would eventually twice be voted into the California Legislature. He had been married before, his first wife, Mary MacDonald, died before arriving in California, leaving him with three young children (the descendant's of which mostly still live in and around Chico, California).
William and Catherine were to be blessed with five children: four boys and one girl. Two of the boys were "William Peregrine Tilden" (named after his father) and "Douglas Tilden."
Douglas was a gifted child born on May 1, 1860 in Chico, California. Sadly, the boy contracted scarlet fever at the age of 5 (which rendered him deaf). He was enrolled the following year in the "Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum" in San Francisco.
Meanwhile, the year 1849 was a tough one for Mr. Peter Donahue. The sturdy Irish blacksmith arrived in San Francisco with an anvil, a hammer, and his black leather apron. He opened a small blacksmith shop at the corner of Mission and First Streets beneath some shade trees. Donahue built his business into what was to become the first foundry on the Pacific Coast, The Union Ironworks. He was to manufacture the first printing press in the West. He then built the first city railway on the Pacific Coast. Donahue founded the San Francisco Gas Company, which later evolved into Pacific Gas and Electric when it merged with Edison Electric. From very modest beginnings, Donahue was a powerful industrialist by the 1870s."
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Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Mechanics Monument Figure Type: Human Artist Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Douglas Tilden Date created or placed or use 'Unknown' if not known: 1901 Materials used: Bronze Location: Market and Battery

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