The statue is of Thomas Goodall, the founder of Goodall Mills and Sanford Mills. The statue of him standing wearing a long over with his left hand holding the lapel of his overcoat. The statue is on a granite base with bronze plaques with inscriptions and reliefs of showing the first Goodall Mill built in 1867 and the Sanford Mill as it was in 1917.
Thomas Goodall
Founder Of The
Sanford Mills
And The
Goodall Worsted Company
Born In Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England
1823
Died In Sanford, Main, 1910
From the Smithsonian website:
"Thomas Goodall (1823-1910) was the founder of a mill complex known as Goodall Industries, a successful textile business that manufactured wool blankets, and mohair plush and Palm Beach fabric. Goodall was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England on Sept. 1, 1823. Orphaned at age three, he began working in a mill at age ten, and was running the mill by age 17. He arrived in America in 1846 at age twenty-three, and traveled throughout New England, buying his first mill in Troy, N.H. when he was twenty-nine, and began manufacturing horse blankets. In 1867, at age forty-four, he came to Sanford and started Goodall Industries. The sculpture was commissioned in 1917 by the Sanford Board of Trade to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Goodall's arrival in Maine. The sculpture cost $6,700, which was raised by the residents of Sanford. The sculpture stood in the middle of Maine Street, facing down Washington Street toward the textile mills that Goodall founded, until 1967, when the sculpture was moved into Central Square (also known as Central Park and Willard Park), to reduce traffic problems. The sculpture was cast by Gorham and the base was designed by Elmer Hobbs of the Jones Manufacturing Company."