UPDATE: Removed in July of 2020
A statue of explorer Christopher Columbus in Bridgeport’s Seaside Park has stared into Long Island Sound for nearly 45 years.
The statue, by sculptor Clemente Spampinato, depicts Columbus, with a map in one hand, standing at the bow of a ship. The statue stands on a black base, with a larger white pillar behind it.
The statue also appears to have suffered some vandalism during its tenure in the park, with a hole that looks like it was caused by a bullet between the explorer’s eyes.
A granite stone mounted in front of the statue lists the dedication date on Columbus Day in 1965. The inscription has undergone some inelegant editing since, with one or two words being chiseled off the stone.
Tags: Bridgeport
A cannon captured from a Spanish warship has been mounted in Bridgeport’s Seaside Park to honor the service of local residents during the Spanish-American War.
The bronze cannon, which faces southeast into Long Island Sound, was cast in Seville on December 13, 1794, according to a date inscribed near the cannon’s neck. We assume the intricate base, which could use a good rust treatment, is also original. The green patina that covers part of the cannon has been worn away from the top of the muzzle and the handles by generations of children climbing and sitting on the cannon.
Immediately behind the cannon is a memorial plaque that was cast in 1913 from metal salvaged from the U.S.S. Maine, which sank in Havana Harbor in 1898. The plaque, designed by sculptor Charles Keck, is one of 1,000 that were cast. So far, we have seen identical plaques on display in Naugatuck and Norwich.
As you can see from a vintage postcard, which bears a 1922 postmark, a ship’s mast and cannonballs were mounted behind the cannon. We couldn’t find a reference to the mast’s removal, but donating cannonballs that were decorating war monuments to scrap drives was common during World War II.
(The postcard was sent in January of 1922 from Bridgeport to Adrian, Mich. In the card, “Aunt Roz” promises her nephew they’ll visit the park when he comes to Bridgeport that summer.)
The last image demonstrates what you get when you poke a camera down the barrel of a cannon mounted in a coastal park.
Tags: Bridgeport
The first statue erected in Bridgeport’s Seaside Park honors local industrialist and Civil War hero Elias Howe, Jr.
The monument was dedicated in 1884 to honor Howe, who invented the first practical sewing machine and built a Bridgeport factory to build the machines. Several inventors created similar machines about the same time as Howe, but he was awarded the U.S. patent for his device after several years of litigation.
The Howe statue faces southeast, toward the western end of the park (the Perry Memorial Arch is visible in the background of the first image in this post). Howe is depicted with a cane in one hand and a hat in the other.
In addition to his industrial success, Howe was known in Bridgeport for his patriotism during the Civil War. He enlisted as a private in the 17th Regiment of the Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, and donated money to help equip the unit.
In the statue, a regimental service medal appears on the left breast of Howe’s overcoat.
The regiment’s training ground would later form the basis of Seaside Park.
The monument was sculpted by Salathiel Ellis, who also created statues of Abraham Lincoln and portrait painter Gilbert Stuart.
Source:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Art Inventories Catalog
Tags: Bridgeport
Bridgeport honors the local men who served in the Civil War with an elaborate monument in Seaside Park.
The monument features a large, granite base with several decorative elements that narrows into a shaft topped by a bronze allegorical figure representing the United States. The monument’s side feature bronze statues depicting an infantry soldier and a sailor.
A plaque on the front (southeast) face reads “Dedicated to the memory of the heroic men of Bridgeport who fell in the late war for the preservation of the Union. July 1876.” The plaque also features the conclusion of the Gettysburg Address.
Plaques on the other faces list approximately 180 local residents killed in the war, along with their unit, as well as their date and place of death.
The plaques are replacements for the originals, which apparently were removed sometime before the early 1990s (when the Connecticut Historical Society examined the monument as part of its survey of the state’s Civil War Monuments). We’re not sure, but we’d guess the plaques were cast from aluminum. Many of the decorative elements on the lower sections of the monuments base are also fiberglass replacements that generally match the monument’s bronze elements. (We chose not to risk arrest by exploring the upper decorative elements.)
The empty, arched niche between the two figures originally held a marble statue, representing Liberty, that was removed due to deterioration. The marble statue is visible in the second vintage postcard at the bottom of this post.
The three bronze figures were created by Melzar Mosman, who was also responsible for monuments in Middletown and Danielson, as well as the figures on the monument in New Haven’s East Rock Park.
The monument stands on the former training grounds of the 17th Regiment of the Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. The popularity of venturing to the coast to watch the troops train helped lead to the creation of Seaside Park after the war.
Source:
Connecticut Historical Society: Civil War Monuments of Connecticut
Tags: Bridgeport
A short update on the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument at the summit of New Haven’s East Rock Park: the city plans to replace the interior staircase that originally led to an observation deck 110 feet from the monument’s base. According to an article in today’s New Haven Register, the next phase of the monument’s restoration calls for the construction of a new interior stairway and an overhaul of the plaza area surrounding the monument’s base.
The city plans to complete the project by November, and we hope to make the climb as soon as the new stairs are ready.
Once that phase is completed, the city plans to refurbish the plaques and four lower-level statues (which would benefit from a good sprucing-up).
Congratulations and bravo to New Haven and the state of Connecticut for securing the funding for the monument’s restoration. Well done.
Tags: New Haven
Bridgeport has honored the memory of circus showman, mayor and philanthropist P.T. Barnum with a statue at the intersection of Iranistan Avenue and Soundview Drive in Seaside Park.
The P.T. Barnum statue, which faces south, depicts a seated Barnum with a book in his left hand. An inscription at the bottom of the base lists his name, and the front of the monument bears the years of his birth and death, as well as a Latin dedication we were unable to translate. We entered the phrasing into several online translation sites, and learned that it refers to Barnum’s kindness, but couldn’t get more specific than that.
Born in Bethel, Barnum operated museums in New York City before launching his circus career. He also served as mayor of Bridgeport, and established the circus’ winter headquarters in the city. Barnum was also instrumental in the founding of Bridgeport Hospital and the local water utility, and when Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo was established in 1920s, retired circus animals formed part of the collection.
The statue was created by Thomas Ball, who was also responsible for a variety of public monuments including three George Washington statues. The Barnum statue was cast in 1887, and stored by the circus until Barnum’s death.
Bridgeport’s Barnum Museum has an extensive collection of Barnum, circus and local historical artifacts.
Seaside Park is a fitting location for a Barnum statue, since the showman built a series of mansions on land that he would eventually donate to the city to expand the park. Several streets in and around the park were named after Barnum mansions.
Barnum is buried in Bridgeport’s Mountain Grove Cemetery.
Update (Aug. 6) — As you can see from the vintage postcards below, the monument was originally a bit more elaborate than it is today. The older card (with the handwritten message across the bottom) carries a 1907 postcard and shows the monument’s base was originally covered with four large bronze plaques decorated with allegorical figures. The plaza surrounding the monuments also featured four large urns.
In the more recent postcard, which we estimate dates to the 1960s, the urns have been removed but the bronze plaques remain attached to the base of the monument. We’re assuming the plaques were stolen at some point, and the modern inscription was added to the base.
Source: Bridgeport, A Pictorial History, David W. Palmquist, The Donning Company, 1981.
Tags: Bridgeport
The Perry Memorial arch in Bridgeport’s Seaside Park stands at the park’s main entrance,
at the foot of, naturally enough, Park Avenue.
The granite archway was dedicated in 1918 to honor William H. Perry, who had served as superintendent of the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company, a sewing machine producer that would later be acquired by Singer.
Perry had also been president of the city’s Parks Commission, and his will left money for the creation of a gateway to Seaside Park.
The front (northwest) face of the monument, facing away from the park, bears the inscription “Perry Memorial Arch” and the dedication date near the top. Further down, set on the center support between the two arches, is a large bronze plaque depicting a luxuriantly bearded Perry standing with an allegorical figure. A dedication at the bottom of the plaque explains the arch was dedicated to Perry’s memory by his wife, Harriet Adeline Perry.
The southeast face of the arch bears a similar dedication, with some biographical information about Perry’s life.
The archway also bears a number of decorative elements. Grass can be seen growing from several ledges in the monument’s upper sections.
The Perry archway was designed by archietect Henry Bacon, who also designed the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and a number of other public scupltures and monuments.
Seaside Park was created in 1865 on land that had been used as a training ground by the 17th Regiment of the Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. Later donations, including land from circus showman and Bridgeport mayor P.T. Barnum, would expand the park to more than 300 acres spread along a 2.5 mile shoreline.
Bridgeport’s elaborate Civil War monument, Barnum statue and other monuments will be highlighted during the rest of this week.
Tags: Bridgeport
An 1878 monument at the northeast corner of a park in the Danielson section of Killingly honors the service of local residents in the Civil War.
The somewhat understated Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument features a bronze infantry solider standing atop a four-sided granite base. The front (northeast) face of the monument bears the dedication “Erected AD 1878 by the Women’s Monument Association and Town of Killingly in honor of the soldiers and sailors who served in the war of 1861 for the preservation of the Union.”
The front also bears the Connecticut seal, and the top of the granite base has a small facade adorned with ivy leaves.
The rear side of the monument bears the U.S. shield emblem, and the left and right sides display ornamental wreaths.
Unlike many Civil War monuments in the state, the Danielson monument does not list individual soldiers lost in the war or major battles in which area residents or regiments fought.
A 30-pounder Parrott rifle cannon has been mounted in front of the monument. The cannon bears an 1862 manufacturing date stamp, as well as the initials of the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York. A cannonball pyramid originally stood in front of the cannon, but has since been removed (most likely during a wartime scrap metal drive).
Davis Park also has monuments honoring local residents who fought in the World Wars and Desert Storm. The World War monument, near the southwest corner of the park, is a large boulder topped with a bronze eagle. A plaque on the front face bears four columns listing local residents who served in the conflict, with a section beneath the dedication honoring two residents who were killed.
Killingly’s World War II monument features a granite slab flanked by two square columns. A plaque on the central slab list 34 Killingly residents killed in the conflict.
The park’s Desert Storm monument lists 49 men and women who served in the conflict, and one who was killed.
Davis Park was donated to Killingly in 1893 by Edwin W. Davis, a Danielson native who founded retail stores and banks in Iowa and Colorado. He requested the new park be named for his parents.
Source:
Connecticut Historical Society: Civil War Monuments of Connecticut
An 1876 monument in Ansonia’s Pine Grove Cemetery honors the service of local heroes killed in the Civil War.
The monument features a statue of an artillery officer standing atop a granite base. A dedication on the rear (south) side of the monument reads “Ansonia’s tribute to the memory of her sons who gave their lives to their country in the rebellion of 1861-1865.”
The base of the south side also lists the battle of Antietam. The north side lists the battle of Malvern Hill (Va.). The east side lists the battle of Mobile (Ala.), while Gettysburg is listed on the west side of the monument’s base.
The monument’s dedication appears on its rear face because the statue has been reversed. When it was originally dedicated, the monument faced south, toward the main cemetery entrance. The entrance was later moved to the north (Church Street) side of the cemetery, so the statue was turned around.
The statue’s right hand also held an artillery ramrod that has been lost over the years. We’re not sure if the staining on the north face of the monument’s base has been caused by water or paint removal.
The monument is surrounded by four 30 pounder Parrott rifle cannons that were manufactured in 1861. The southwest cannon was mounted upside-down in its bracket, judging from the date and foundry markings on its side. We’re not sure if being mounted upside-down would affect Civil War artillery, but since the Ansonia cannon weighs 2.1 tons, we doubt anyone’s going to remount it right-side-up.
The Ansonia monument was designed by sculptor M.J. Walsh, who also created the Soldiers’ Monument on the nearby Derby Green.
Tags: Ansonia
North Canaan honors local veterans and war heroes with a large monument, topped by a Doughboy statue, that was dedicated in 1928.
The monument, at the intersection of East Main Street (Route 44) and Granite Ave., features a bench-shaped base comprised of individual stones, rather than the more-common granite base typically seen on war memorials.
A plaque on the front (south) face of the monument bears a dedication “In honor of those who served in the World War from North Canaan,” and lists about 111 names of residents who served, and honors three who were killed. The plaque also depicts combat scenes and bears an eagle and an American Legion logo.
The base of the monument also bears a plaque honoring service in the American Revolution and War of 1812, and a plaque listing about 86 residents who served in the Civil War.
A stone wall matching the appearance of the World War monument’s base was added later. Plaques honor residents who served in Korea, World War II and Vietnam. Trees surrounding the monument also bear plaques honoring residents killed in World War I.
The Doughboy statue, by sculptor E.M. Viquesney, is known formally as the “Spirit of the American Doughboy.” At least 138 other versions of this statue, which can also be seen atop Bethel’s World War monument, are displayed in the United States. The figure was also sold in miniature versions as well as in lamps.
North Canaan originally built the base before deciding later to add the Doughboy statue. A local resident donned his World War I uniform and posed for photos atop the stone base to illustrate how the completed monument would look.
Sources:
Spirit of the American Doughboy Database
Tags: North Canaan