In June 1857,
Cleveland City Council unanimously adopted resolutions to erect a monument to Commodore Oliver Perry in the city's Public Square. By October, Thomas Jones & Sons Marble Works, of Cleveland, was selected as contractor. The project had a budget of $6,000, to be raised from contributions by the citizens of Cleveland. Prominent sculptors
Hiram Powers,
Thomas Ball, and E. D. Palmer were approached for the Perry statue, but demurred due to the limited budget. The contractor turned to William Walcutt, who produced a new design that was endorsed by the monument committee. City Council granted T. Jones & Sons the power to solicit funds for an additional $2,000 over the project's contracted budget. Fund-raising fell well short of the $8,000 target, and in 1860 City Council appropriated $3,008 to make up the deficit. Walcutt, a sculptor originally from
Columbus, Ohio, had studied in
London and
Paris, and kept a studio in
New York City. In addition to the larger-than-life Perry statue, his design proposed a stepped base with two subsidiary sailor figures ("Sailor Boy", "Midshipman"), and a pedestal featuring a round bas-relief
vignette of the battle. The monument was dedicated on September 10, 1860, the 47th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie. Over 100,000 people attended its unveiling, which featured speeches by
Harvey Rice, chairman of the monument committee, historian
George Bancroft, and the governors of Ohio and Rhode Island (Perry's home state). Following the dedication ceremony, a mock battle was staged offshore, and a grand
military parade was held the following day. Public Square became known as Monumental Park, in recognition of the sculpture. In 1878, the monument was relocated from the
intersection at the center of Public Square to the square's southeast quadrant. It was removed in 1892 to make way for construction of Cleveland's
Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. Following two years in storage, it was re-erected in
Wade Park in 1894, overlooking Wade Lagoon. The monument was removed in 1913 to make way for construction of the
Cleveland Museum of Art, and relocated to
Gordon Park. By 1927 winds and rain had deteriorated the statues of Perry, Sailor Boy, and the Midshipman. The Early Settlers Association raised $10,000 to replace them with bronze castings, which were unveiled in Gordon Park in 1929. They were relocated within Gordon Park in 1951, and put into storage in 1988.
Sculptures Walcutt's marble Perry statue was completed and installed for the dedication, as was the marble bas-relief on the pedestal. The two subsidiary figures intended to flank the pedestal – a midshipman and a sailor boy – were completed in plaster by 1860, but required additional funds to be carved in marble. They were completed and installed in 1869. In 1929, they were removed from the monument and replaced with bronze copies, created under the supervision of sculptor
Herman Matzen. At the same time, a second bronze copy of the Perry statue was made for
Rhode Island, and installed on the grounds of the
Statehouse in
Providence. The three marble statues and the marble bas-relief panel were donated to
Perrysburg, Ohio in 1929, and were installed in Hood Park, along the
Maumee River, in 1937. In 1997, Perrysburg replaced the marble statues with bronze copies, and installed the bronzes on a pedestal and base that approximated Walcutt's original positioning of the figures. The marble sailor statues are currently exhibited in the town's municipal building. The marble Perry statue has been on long-term loan to the
National Park Service since 2002, and is exhibited in the visitor center at
Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial in the village of
Put-in-Bay, Ohio on
South Bass Island. A plaster version of the Perry statue, presumed to be Walcutt's full-sized model used to carve the 1860 marble version, is in the collection of the
Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland. Walcutt's Perry statue is depicted on the reverse of the 2013 "Perry's Victory"
quarter. File:Statue of Perry, Oliver Hazard in Cleveland Park (NYPL Hades-118989-53938).tiff|1859 chromolithograph depicting the proposed monument. Note that the scale, statue, and pedestal differ from Walcutt's design. File:Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial Vistor's Center.jpg|Perry Statue (marble, 1860), on display at the
Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial.
Put-in-Bay, Ohio on
South Bass Island. File:Oliver Perry Statue 01.jpg|Perry Statue (bronze, cast 1928),
Rhode Island State House.
Providence, Rhode Island. File:Flickr - Official U.S. Navy Imagery - Navy officers salute the national ensign..jpg|2012 ceremony at the Perry Monument commemorating the
Bicentennial of the War of 1812.
Cleveland, Ohio. ==References==