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 Madonna of the Trail - Lamar, Colorado Posted by:  iconions
N 38° 05.359 W 102° 37.146
13S E 708797 N 4218402
This sculpture is located at the old Lamar Train Station, now the Vistors' Center, located at 109 East Beech Street, Suite # B, Lamar, Colorado.
Waymark Code: WM12CD6
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 04/26/2020
Views: 2
Artist: Leimbach, Auguste, 1882-1965, sculptor.
Title: Madonna of the Trail, (sculpture).
Other Titles: Pioneer Mother, (sculpture).
Dates: Copyrighted 1928. Dedicated Sept. 24, 1928.
Medium: Sculpture: painted algonite; Base: algonite.
Dimensions: Sculpture: approx. 10 x 4 ft. in x 4 ft. 4 in.; Base: approx. approx. 8 ft. 1 in. x 7 ft. x 7 ft.
Inscription: (Front of base:) MADONNA OF THE TRAIL N.S.D.A.R. MEMORIAL/TO THE/PIONEER MOTHERS/OF THE/COVERED WAGON DAYS
(South side of base:) A PLACE OF HISTORICAL LORE/NOTED FOR INDIAN LODGES/SHELTER FROM STORM AND HEAT/FOOD SUPPLY FOR BEAST/BIVOUAC FOR EXPEDITIONS/SCENE OF MANY COUNCILS
(East side:) THE NATIONAL OLD TRAILS ROAD
(North side:) IN COMMEMORATION OF BIG TIMBERS EXTENDING EASTWARD AND WESTWARD ALONG ARKANSAS RIVER APPROXIMATELY TWENTY MILES AND OF BENT'S NEW FORT LATER FORT WISC 1852-1866
(Back of base:) USDAR copyright 1928 signed
Description: A full-length, standing female figure, in pioneer clothing, with a long dress, boots, a sunbonnet, and a shawl. In her proper left arm she holds an infant and in her proper right hand she holds the top of the barrel of a rifle, the butt of which rests on the ground. A little boy is at her side, with his proper left hand on the rifle and his proper right hand holding the front of her dress. At the figures' feet is a bed of cactus and large leaves.
Subject: History -- United States -- Westward Expansion
Figure group -- Family -- Mother & Child
Dress -- Historic -- Pioneer Dress
Object -- Weapon -- Gun
Allegory -- Life -- Womanhood
Object Type: Outdoor Sculpture -- Colorado -- Lamar
Sculpture
Owner: Administered by City of Lamar, Parks Department, Lamar, Colorado 81052
Located Corner of Main & Beech, near Colorado Welcome Center, Lamar, Colorado
Remarks: The statue is one of twelve similar monuments erected and funded by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution in each of twelve states through which the National Old Trails Road or Cumberland Road passes. Each sculpture cost $1,000.
Control Number: IAS CO000373
- Smithsonian Outdoor Sculptures Inventory Website
A recurring piece of public statuary stands in twelve locations from Maryland to California, tracing a historic travel route from covered wagon days. The statue is the Madonna of the Trail, an 18-foot-tall tribute to the pioneer mothers who traveled west with their crazy husbands.
The Madonna of the Trail is a pinkish, stony-faced pioneer Mom, in long dress and bonnet, strutting westward clutching a rifle with one hand, an infant with the other, with another little cruncher grasping Mom's skirt.
The Madonnas of the Trail were a project of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution. They were erected in 1928-29, strung along the National Old Trails Road -- the trail of the Conestoga wagons -- now mostly US 40. The sites were chosen with the help of the president of the National Old Trails Road Association, a then-little-known Missouri Justice of the Peace named Harry S Truman. He attended each dedication.
Artist August Leimbach created the design in only three days, according to his grandson, and was paid $1,000 for each statue. Ten years later he was banished to Germany by the Americans, and later arrested by the Russians.
The poured algonite stone sculptures -- a mixture of crushed marble, Missouri granite, stone, cement and lead ore -- are identical. The historical info. on the base of each varies from locale to locale.
Nearly all of the five-ton pioneer moms face west, although subsequent construction projects have repositioned some statues in other directions.
To properly honor the pioneer spirit, one should retrace the entire trail, and photograph all twelve cookie cutter statues. Or, with less honor, take twelve photos of one and say you saw 'em all...
Bethesda, Maryland
Beallsville, Pennsylvania
Wheeling, West Virginia
Springfield, Ohio
Richmond, Indiana
Vandalia, Illinois
Lexington, Missouri
Council Grove, Kansas
Lamar, Colorado
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Springerville, Arizona
Upland, California
- Roadside America Website
Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Madonna of the Trail
Figure Type: Human
Artist Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Auguste Leimbach
Date created or placed or use 'Unknown' if not known: 1928
Materials used: algonite
Location: Western Grounds of the Lamar Visitors Center
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