George Washington Memorial - Kansas City, MO
Posted by: YoSam.
N 39° 05.067 W 094° 34.921
15S E 363169 N 4327339
Statue has been moved from one end of the park to this end, because with the Crown Center more people enter the park over here.
Waymark Code: WMTA7K
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 10/22/2016
Views: 4
County of statue: Jackson County
Location of Statue: Grand Blvd. & Pershing Rd., Washington Square Park, Kansas City
Replica of New York Washington Statue.
Artist: Henry Merwin Shrady, (1871-1922), sculptor
Founder: Roman Bronze Works
Architect: William Wright
Dedicated: November 11, 1925; Rededicated: November 11, 1932; Relocated 1987
Formerly located Washington Square Park, Pershing Road at Main Street.
Text on Base:
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
One Hundred and Nine
Thousand Citizens Gave
This Statue To Their City
Dedicated
Armistice Day, 1925
Rededicated
Armistice Day, 1932
The Two Hundredth
Anniversary Year of the
Birth of George Washington
Proper Description:
"Figure of George Washington astride his horse, in the winter cold of Valley Forge. Washington is heavily draped and wears a hat. He holds the reins of his horse in his proper left hand. The horse's head is lowered. The sculpture is installed atop a rectangular base with a thirty-one inch bench area running around the bottom." ~ Smithsonian American Art Museum
Relevant info on statue:
Fund raising for the sculpture began on July 4, 1922 by the Patriots and Pioneers Memorial Foundation. By April 30, 1924, 109,000 individuals had offered contributions, including $500 in pennies collected by local school children. The sculpture, which cost $35,000, is a replica of Shrady's original located at the Brooklyn approach to the Williamsburg Bridge in New York City. The Board of Park Commissioners provided the base, which was designed by architect William Wight, of Wight & Wight. IAS files contain an excerpt from 1990-1991 Kansas City, Missouri, Historic Survey of Parks and Boulevards, which discusses the funding and creation of the monument. Sculpture was cleaned and repaired in 1986.