The Uncle Sam Memorial Statue is a statue commemorating Samuel Wilson, perhaps the original Uncle Sam, near his birthplace in the center of Arlington, Massachusetts, USA. It was sculpted by Theodore Cotillo Barbarossa. It is located on Mystic Street, adjacent to the Minuteman Bikeway.
The sculpture is a bronze relief of Uncle Sam and three-dimensional sculpture of Samuel Wilson, installed on a limestone base in front of a wall rising from the base's rear. It was funded by Frederick A. Hauck of Cincinnati, Ohio, cast in 1976, installed during the United States Bicentennial on September 11, 1976, and dedicated April 18, 1977.
The bronze relief depicts the life and work of Samuel Wilson in Troy, New York and Mason, New Hampshire, and in Menotomy, Massachusetts (now Arlington, Massachusetts). The relief includes a depiction of the familiar image of the elderly "Uncle Sam" figure in top hat and tails. At its top is a butcher and a ship coming in to dock next to the word "TROY"; in the middle is a pioneer couple standing behind a fence with the words "MASON N-H"; and at the bottom is a soldier on horseback above the word "MENOTOMY." To the relief's right is a standing portrait of Wilson carrying his top hat in the crook of his left arm and extending his right hand slightly.
The sculpture is approximately 8 feet, 8 inches high, on a base approximately 15 feet, 8 inches high by 10 feet wide. Its weight is 17 tons. It was cast and erected by Eleftherios Karkadoulias, with stone work fabricated by Woolery Stone Company, and contains a number of inscriptions, including:
- Base, front above sculpture: SAMUEL WILSON / 1766-1854
- Base, front below figure: IN HONOR OF SAMUEL WILSON / A NATIVE SON / BORN NEAR THIS SITE / ON SEPTEMBER 13, 1766 / HE BECAME / OUR NATIONAL SYMBOL / UNCLE SAM
- Base, bronze plaque on side of base: UNVEILED / SEPTEMBER / 11-1976 / DEDICATED / APRIL-18, 1977 / FREDERICK A. HAUCK / A GIFT TO THE TOWN OF ARLINGTON / MASS. AND THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES THROUGH THE GENEROUS / CONTRIBUTION OF FREDERICK A. HAUCK / OF CINCINNATI, OHIO / DESIGNER-SCULPTOR T.C. BARBAROSSA / BELMONT, MASS. / CAST BY ELEFTHERIOS KARKADOULIAS / CINCINNATI, OHIO / PROJECT COORDINATOR / THE ARLINGTON JAYCEES / BOARD OF SELECTMEN / ARTHUR D. SAUL, JR., CHAIRMAN / ROBERT B. WALSH / ANN MAHON POWERS / MARGARET H. SPENGLER / ROBERT H. MURRAY / TOWN MANAGER / DONALD R. MARQUIS / UNCLE SAM STATUE COMMITTEE / WILLIAM J. BECK / JACK R. DONALSON / JAMES D. HOBBS / JAMES F. LAWSON, JR. / STEPHEN PEKICH / FREDERICK E. PITCHER / JOHN G. PERRY / WILLIAM J. SCAGLIONE.
Famous quotes containing the words uncle sam, uncle, sam, memorial and/or statue:
“If Uncle Sam should ever sell that tract for one cent per acre, he will swindle the purchaser outrageously.”
—State of Utah, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“My uncle Toby had scarce a heart to retalliate upon a fly.
Go,—says he, one day at dinner, to an over-grown one which had buzz’d about his nose ... go poor Devil, get thee gone, why should I hurt thee?—This world surely is wide enough to hold both thee and me.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“Kick at the rock, Sam Johnson, break your bones:”
—Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)
“When I received this [coronation] ring I solemnly bound myself in marriage to the realm; and it will be quite sufficient for the memorial of my name and for my glory, if, when I die, an inscription be engraved on a marble tomb, saying, “Here lieth Elizabeth, which reigned a virgin, and died a virgin.””
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“The spire cranes. Its statue is an aviary.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)