The John Ericsson Memorial, a pink Milford granite statue on the National Mall in Washington D.C, is a tribute to the man who revolutionized naval history with his invention of the screw propeller. The Swedish engineer John Ericsson was also the designer of USS Monitor, the ship that ensured Union naval supremacy during the American Civil War.
Erected between September 1926 and April 1927 near the Lincoln Memorial, the monument was sculpted by James Earle Fraser. It features a seated figure of Ericsson 6 feet 5 inches high, along with three standing figures representing adventure, labor, and vision.
Congress authorized the memorial on August 31, 1916, and it was dedicated on May 29, 1926, by President Calvin Coolidge and Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden. Congress appropriated $35,000 for its creation, and Americans chiefly of Scandinavian descent raised an additional $25,000. The memorial stands 20 feet high with a 9-foot-diameter base.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Friendly Jane
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