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Smith Memorial Arch

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+1 215-546-7550

Smith Memorial Arch

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West Fairmount Park, Avenue of the Republic, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

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West Fairmount Park, 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry M, Catholic Total Abstinenc, Memorial Hall, North Carolina Monument

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Smith Memorial Arch is an American Civil War monument at South Concourse and Lansdowne Drive in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Built on the former grounds of the 1876 Centennial Exposition, it serves as a gateway to West Fairmount Park. The Memorial consists of two colossal columns supported by curving, neo-Baroque arches, and adorned with 13 individual portrait sculptures (2 equestrians, 3 figures, and 8 busts); two eagles standing on globes; and architectural reliefs of 8 allegorical figures.

Contents

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History

In 1891, Richard Smith (1821-1894), a wealthy Philadelphia electroplate and type founder, created a will that provided $500,000 ($13,327,778 today) for a memorial arch to be adorned with portraits of Pennsylvania's Civil War military and naval heroes. Smith deposited the model and designs for the memorial with the Fidelity Insurance Trust and Safe Deposit Company and stipulated that: Fidelity president John B. Gest handle his request, that the architectural designs and construction be handled by Philadelphia architect James H. Windrim, and that the selection and supervision of sculptors for the specified portraits should be handled by the Fairmount Park Art Association (now the Association for Public Art).

The will went into effect upon the death of Smith's wife in 1895, but it was not until 1897 that the Fairmount Park Art Association began to select the sculptors. The initial commissions were awarded on May 8, 1898, and it took until 1912 before the last sculpture was completed and installed on the arch.

The estate of Richard and Sarah Smith also funded the creation of Smith Memorial Playground & Playhouse, in East Fairmount Park.

Statues

  • Major General George Gordon Meade by Daniel Chester French (atop south column).
  • Major General John Fulton Reynolds by Charles Grafly (atop north column).
  • Richard Smith (donor of the Memorial) by Herbert Adams (on pedestal of north column).

    • Equestrian statues

  • Major General George B. McClellan by Edward Clark Potter (atop south pier).
  • Major General Winfield Scott Hancock by John Quincy Adams Ward (atop north pier).

    • Busts

  • Major General John F. Hartranft by Alexander Stirling Calder.
  • Major General Samuel W. Crawford by Bessie Potter Vonnoh.
  • General James Addams Beaver by Katherine M. Cohen.
  • Admiral David Dixon Porter by Charles Grafly.
  • Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren by George Bissell.
  • Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin by Moses Jacob Ezekiel.
  • James H. Windrim (architect of the Memorial) by Samuel Murray.
  • John B. Gest (executor of Richard Smith's estate) by Charles Grafly.

    • Other sculpture

  • Two eagles standing on globes by John Massey Rhind.
  • Eight bas-relief allegorical figures by
  • The Memorial's frieze is carved with the names of 84 Pennsylvania veterans.
  • The Memorial's inscription reads:

    • THIS
    MONUMENTAL MEMORIAL
    PRESENTED BY
    RICHARD SMITH
    TYPE FOUNDER
    OF PHILADELPHIA –
    IN MEMORY OF
    PENNSYLVANIANS WHO
    TOOK PART IN THE CIVIL WAR
    THEIR STRIFE WAS NOT FOR
    AGGRANDIZEMENT AND WHEN
    CONFLICT CEASED THE NORTH
    WITH THE SOUTH UNITED AGAIN
    TO ENJOY THE COMMON HERITAGE
    LEFT BY THE FATHERS OF OUR
    COUNTRY RESOLVING THAT
    THEREAFTER ALL OUR PEOPLE
    SHOULD DWELL TOGETHER

    References

    Smith Memorial Arch Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA