"The Hendricks Monument is a public artwork by American artist Richard Henry Park, located at the Indiana Statehouse, in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The sculpture is made of bronze.
The sculpture is a full-length bronze portrait, approximately eleven feet tall, five feet wide and five feet long. Hendricks is depicted in formal attire with a long dress coat.
The pedestal for this sculpture is made of red Italian granite. On two sides of the pedestal are two bronze allegorical sculptures.
Thomas A. Hendricks (September 7, 1819 – November 25, 1885) was a U.S. Representative and a Senator from Indiana, the 16th Governor of Indiana, and the 21st Vice President of the United States (serving with Grover Cleveland). Hendricks led the campaign to build the Indiana Statehouse.
The design at first embraced simply the bronze statue of Hendricks, surmounting a granite pedestal, the latter being similar in the main to the one erected. Later, as the fund increased, Mr. Park was commissioned by the committee to add two seated allegorical statues in bronze representing respectively “History” and “Justice,” and the granite pedestal was enlarged and suitably modified to receive these new features. The monument as a whole stands 38 feet 6 inches high, and at the base is 29 feet in length and 21 feet in width. The statue of Hendricks is 14 feet 6 inches high, and the allegorical figures would be about 9 feet high if standing. The pedestal is executed in Baveno granite, from the quarries on the banks of Lake Maggiore, in Italy. Granite was chosen, not only because of its inherent structural excellence, but of the harmony secured between the bronze statuary and the coral tine pervading the stone. The granite in the Hendricks Monument is the first of its kind ever imported into this country. The pedestal, as well as the models of the statues, was designed as Richard Henry Park’s studio in Florence, and the monument was erected here under the supervision of Mr. C. B. Canfield, president of the New England Monument Company of New York City.
Following the death of Thomas A. Hendricks, a committee was established to create a monument that would commemorate the 21st Vice President of the United States. A committee of five was appointed to prepare a plan of organization, articles of incorporation, etc., and report at a general citizens’ meeting to be held on Saturday, December 12, at the Federal courtroom. At the last named time and place there was a large attendance of citizens, without regard to party views, and the meeting was organized by the selection of General Morris as chairman and Judge Holman as secretary. The report of the sub-committee on organization as read by its chairman, the late Judge Joseph A. S. Mitchell, of the Supreme Court, was concurred in and the incorporating articles duly approved. These articles provided, in substance, for the prosecution of the work of erecting a monument to Mr. Hendricks by an executive committee, twelve in number, and to this committee the business affairs of the Association were fully committed. The gentlemen chosen to act in that capacity were Messrs. Noble C. Butler, Frederick W. Chislett, Francis M. Churchman, Edward Hawkins, John A. Hulman, Oscar B. Hord, Elijah B. Martindayle, Thomas A. Morris, Frederick Rand, James H. Rice, Simon P. Sheerin and Charles Zollinger. The committee thus chosen, with the addition of Judge N. B. Taylor, who was appointed on the death of Honorable Oscar B. Hord to succeed him. The general officers of the Association have remained the same from the first, vis.: Frederick Rand, president; Francis M. Churchman, treasurer; John A. Holman, secretary; Frederick W. Chislett, superintendent.
A large portion of the monument fund, in the neighborhood of one-half, had already been secured by the voluntary efforts of the officers, members of the committee and friends of the movement, when it was found necessary to employ a canvasser in order to raise the balance desired, and Hon. R. C. J. Pendleton, of Indianapolis, was accordingly chosen for that work. The contributions received represent many thousands of donations, and came from every neighborhood in the United States, one dollar being a large average. Many of these sums were sent by letter directly to the committee, and almost always were accompanied by a touching expression of the affection entertained by the contributor for the memory of the lamented statesman. The messages came not only from over the Mississippi Valley but from every quarter. “Tom Hendricks” seemed to have had a loving following in every nook and corner of the Union. On September 10, 1887, the Association felt that the undertaking was sufficiently assured to justify a call for proposals and designs for a monument, and on January 1, 1888, they were in receipt of a large number of responses to the published advertisements. After much consideration the design of Richard H. Park was accepted, and a contract was executed with him for the erection of the monument.
The Monument Association, having been given legislative permission to select a site on the state grounds at Indianapolis, early made choice of the southeast corner of the statehouse enclosure, and the massive foundation for the monument was laid during the winter. The erection of the monument proper began in April, but was delayed nearly a month by the failure of several of the large granite pieces to reach their destination in company with the rest of the structure.
The work on the monument having advanced sufficiently to justify it, the committee on May 24 formally announced Tuesday, July 1, 1890, as the day selected for the unveiling, and preparations for that now memorable event were thenceforward actively pushed. The Executive Committee referred the whole subject, with general powers, to three of its members, viz.: Hon. Edward Hawkins, Hon. Noble C. Butler and Judge John A. Holman. These gentlemen, thereafter known as the Committee of Arrangements, designated the following special committees: Invitation, Street Demonstration, Railroads, Music, Decoration, Press, and Hotels.
A General Reception Committee was likewise named, consisting of about one hundred prominent citizens of Indianapolis, and two or more from each of the various counties of the state. The work of decorating the streets and buildings of the city commenced during the previous week, and resulted in a more lavish display of flags and bunting and bright coloring than had ever been known in the city’s history. A large and strongly built amphitheater, reaching across Tennessee street, from the Park Theater to the capitol grounds, was erected by the committee and covered with a mammoth canvas. At the front was a slightly elevated stage, provided with some five hundred chairs, while back of this was the raised pavilion for the large chorus of school children and other spectators. In the middle of the stage at the front and directly facing the monument was the speakers’ stand, richly carpeted and furnished from the senate chamber at the capitol. This whole structure was elaborately decorated with bunting and harmonized in color and general effect with the tall and massive monument that stood a few steps away buried in large garrison flags. In addition to the seating capacity of the amphitheater, benches had been supplied in its immediate front and protected for the use of ticket holders by a rope enclosure. The special invitations sent out by the executive Committee were confined in the main to the national administrations, represented by President Harrison and ex-President Cleveland and their cabinets, the Senators and Congressmen, Federal Judges and Governors of the states.
The committee’s program of exercises was carried out with marked success, not the least interesting of the features of the afternoon being the brief addresses made, in response to the calls of the great gathering, by Governor Hill, of New York, Governor Campbell, of Ohio, Governor Francis, of Missouri and ex-Governor Gray, of Indiana.
The monument’s unveiling commenced with a a parade with a full program of activities following. These activities included a call to order by Alvin P. Hovey, Governor of Indiana; an invocation by Rev. Joseph S. Jenckes, of St. Paul’s Church, Indianapolis; music; a historical statement by President Rand, president of the Monument Association; unveiling of the monument by Mrs. Eliza C. Hendricks; a salute by Indianapolis Light Artillery—nine rounds; a dedicatory ode by James Whitcomb Riley of Indiana, read by Rev. Dr. D. W. Fisher, President of Hanover College; and address by Hon. David Turpie, U. S. Senator from Indiana; and a benediction given by the Right Reverend Francis Silas Chatard, Bishop of Vincennes." - Wikipedia
Three plaques have been added to the monument with the following text:
Thomas Andrews Hendricks
Vice President of the United States
With Democrat President Grover Cleveland, 1885
Born September 7, 1819, Near Zanesville, Ohio
Died November 25, 1885, Indianapolis, Buried At Crown Hill Cemetery
Represented Shelby County, Indiana House of Representatives, 1848-49
Delegate, State Constituional Convestion, 1850-51
Member, U.S. House of Representatives, 1851-55
Commissioner, U.S. General Land Office Washington, D.C. 1855-59
United States Senator From Inidana, 1863-69
Governor of Indiana, 1873-77
Hendricks Won The Popular Vote As Vice Presidential Candidate
With Samuel J. Tilden, But Lost Contested Electoral Votes
Awarded To Rutherford B. Hayes, 1876.
Nephew Of William Hendricks, Governor Of Indiana, 1821-25
Moved to Shelby County Indiana, 1822
Graduated, Hanorver College, 1841
Married Eliza C. Morgan, 1845
Lifelong Opponent Of Republican Oliver P. Morton
Indiana's Civil War Governor And Post-War United States Senator,
Whose Statue Stands On The East Side Of The Capitol
Sculpted By Richard H. Park
Erected In 1890, This Statue Faces Toward Shelbyville
This Plaque Was Mounted In October, 1995,
By Governor Evan Bayh,
Lt. Governor Frank O'Bannon
And The Indiana Department Of Administration
Text Compiled By The State Archives
Indiana Commission On Public Records
F. Gerald Handfield, Jr., And Justin E. Walsh