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The First McKinley Statue
Unveiled in the Presence of Fifty Thousand People
on Memorial Day, at Muskegon, Michigan.
Created by the Sculptor Niehaus and Presented to the City of Muskegon
by the Philanthropist Charles H. Hackley.
“Let us ever remember that our
interest is in concord, not conflict, and that our real eminence
rests in the victories of peace, not those of war.”
WILLIAM McKINLEY, the martyr president, in the hour of his country’s
necessity, was one of its bravest defenders. In later years, when
the high office to which he had been called and the demands of humanity
again put the sword into his hand and made him the supreme authority,
he again proved his ability as a warrior and a strategist; but William
McKinley was preeminently a peaceful citizen of the United States
[398][399] and a statesman. None took
up the sword more willingly in defence of country or in aid of the
oppressed; none laid it down more gladly when its victory had been
won and its purpose accomplished.
This being his nature, it is particularly
appropriate that the first statue erected in the United States to
his beloved memory should bear the above striking sentence, taken
from the speech he delivered at the Buffalo exposition on the eve
of his assassination. The words epitomized the sentiments of this
soldier statesman to whom the glow of furnace fires was a grander
sight than the flash of murderous cannon, and the hum of industry
sweeter music than the rattle of the timbrels of war. So the words
of counsel and prophecy have been graven deep in the gray granite
plinth of his first completed memorial.
The first statue of William McKinley
erected in the country which he loved and served so well was unveiled
in the presence of nearly 50,000 people Memorial day in the city
of Muskegon, Michigan. It was a gift to this favored city from the
hand of the millionaire philanthropist, Charles H. Hackley, whose
admiration for the late president was deep. It is interesting to
know that the commission for the statue was given within six weeks
after the world had been shocked at the news of the President’s
death.
The sculptor is Charles Henry Niehaus,
a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, now resident in New York, who had
unusual opportunities for the creation of the statue. When Mr. McKinley’s
campaign for reelection to the presidency was inaugurated, the Ohio
Society of New York determined upon a banquet in his honor and elaborate
preparations were made months in advance of the event. One of the
features was to be an heroic bust of the President as the leading
decoration. Sculptor Niehaus was dispatched to Washington and there
the President sat to him and an extremely valuable set of photographs
and facial measurements was secured. The idea of a huge bust was
abandoned because of limited time, but the sculptor prepared a half
figure of the President.
After the assassination, Mr. Niehaus
sent a photograph of this half figure to Charles H. Hackley, the
Muskegon philanthropist, who had been his patron as the purchaser
of statues of Lincoln and Farragut for Hackley Square in this city.
The idea of the statue at once suggested itself and Mr. Hackley
gave Mr. Niehaus the commission, at the [399][400]
same time announcing to the public schools of Muskegon that he would
make them a gift of the bronze when completed.
The dedication of the statue on Memorial
day was the culmination of this incident. It was an important day
for the Michigan city when it enjoyed the honor of being the first
city in the land thus to honor the late President. The town was
thronged with 25,000 visitors. In recognition of the national character
of the event, the federal government sent a battalion of troops
from Fort Sheridan, Ill., and the United States revenue cutters
Fessenden and Morrill to participate in the exercises.
There were present Governor Aaron
T. Bliss and staff, Brigadier General Charles L. Boynton and staff,
sculptor Niehaus and many other distinguished visitors. The full
second regiment, Michigan National Guard, Grand Army posts from
about the state, many bodies of Knights Templar, and the Uniform
Rank of the Knights of Pythias—in all three thousand men—participated
in the parade and were reviewed by the governor.
A peculiar coincidence was the fact
that Mayor Theo. D. Morgan was president of the day and the vocal
music was supplied by a Welsh chorus of native Welshmen. William
McKinley was known as the father of the American tin plate industry
and the champion of “American tin.” Mayor Morgan’s father erected
the first tin plate mill built in the United States, and the chorus
which sang at these memorial exercises was made up of skilled workmen
brought to this country from Wales by the development of this industry,
and who now are valued American citizens.
The address of the day was by Clarence
W. Sessions, of Muskegon, who declared McKinley “a manly man, walking
uprightly before God and his fellow men; an American citizen, typifying
all that patriotism and love of country have ever signified; a loving
husband, as tender and true as ever courteous knight to chosen lady
when chivalry was in flower; a brave soldier, valiant in battle,
prudent in preparation, esteemed as a comrade and honored as a commander;
a peerless leader, never daunted by defeat nor spoiled by success;
a polished diplomatist, adroit, honest and skillful, winning and
holding the confidence of princes, sovereigns and rulers everywhere;
a most distinguished and far sighted statesman, wise beyond his
day and generation, and gifted with a breadth of mind, a strength
of thought, a keenness of vision, a clearness of judgment and a
capacity for work, that, together, produced a marvelous power of
accomplishment; and a more than thrice-illustrious president, fortunate
in environment, favored by opportunity, conservative in action,
yet effective in execution [400][401]
and privileged beyond all others to set in place the keystone of
Columbia’s triumphal arch which shall still endure when time unveils
eternity.”
The statue was unveiled by four daughters
of Civil and Spanish-American war veterans and, as the great flag
in which it was enwrapped fell away and the features appeared, it
was greeted by the cheers of the congregated thousands. On the pedestal
appear the words:
At the top of the pedestal forty-five
stars, one for each state in the Union, form a border about it.
The statue is seven feet and three inches high and weighs 1,100
pounds. On the plinth appear the words quoted at the beginning of
this article.
The McKinley statue is only one of
many benefactions to the city of Muskegon by Charles H. Hackley.
He has given his city over a million dollars’ worth of public buildings,
parks and statuary. His most conspicuous gifts are: Hackley Public
Library and endowment, $230,000; Hackley Square, monuments and endowment,
$110,000; Hackley Manual Training School and endowments, $600,000;
statue of Phil Kearney, $5,000; statue of William McKinley, $12,000;
endowment of the Home for the Friendless, $25,000; Mercy Hospital
and endowments, $150,000; total $1,132,000.
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