Sons Placed Nathan Hale Statue In City Park

The Sons of the Revolution decided to create a statue honoring Nathan Hale.

It was unhappy with the first attempts and approved a committee headed by renowned sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens to search for a sculptor. The committee ultimately selected Frederick MacMonnies, who completed the model and final statue in Paris.

He was then a student at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Stanford White had discovered the 16-year-old MacMonnies while he was working as an apprentice in Gaudens' studio. Both White and McKim of McKim, Mead and White helped finance MacMonies education in Paris. The model was exhibited in Gaudens' New York City studio for society members to evaluate. The board then gave its approval for the statue itself to be completed.

The bronze statue cost $5,000 in 1893 dollars. That would be approximately $100,000 today based on the rate of inflation. However, as a 110-year-old major work by an important artist, the statue is now nearly priceless. The drum of pink marble for he base was designed by Stanford White and also cost $5000. The statue was dedicated on 110th Anniversary of Evacuation Day, November 25th, 1893.

The sculptors for patriotic statues in New York were a fairly tight fraternity. Henry Kirke Brown created Washington on Evacuation Day in Union Square Park and the DeWitt Clinton Statue in Green-Wood Cemetery. His apprentice, John Quincy Adams War , created the George Washington at Federal Hall.