UNVEILING OF SHERIDAN STATUE, NOVEMBER 25, 1908, SHERIDAN CIRCLE, MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE AND TWENTY-THIRD STREET NW. Tennessee, the Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library, and the Secretary of War, to select a site and secure designs for a statue or memorial of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, not to exceed in cost the sum of $250,000. The act appropriated $10,000 to defray the expense of securing plans, specifications, and models. The sundry civil act approved June 28, 1902, appropriated $50,000 for commencing the erection of the memorial, and the sums of $40,000, $25,000, and $40,000, respectively, were appropriated by the acts approved June 30, 1906, February 9, 1909, and March 3, 1909, for continuing the work. On April 10, 1901, the commission issued an invitation for the submission of models, and in March, 1902, 27 models were submitted by 23 sculptors. Two of these models were selected for further competition. The final result was the selection of the design submitted by Henry Merwin Shrady, sculptor, and Edward Pearce Casey, architect, and a contract was entered into with them on August 10, 1903, for the production and erection of the memorial for the total sum of $240,000, the work to be completed within five years from date of contract. The commission selected the unoccupied portion of the Botanic Garden grounds, between First and Second streets, as the site of the memorial, and their selection was approved by Congress in sundry civil act approved June 30, 1906. On July 24, 1907, a supplemental contract was entered into making changes in the design of the memorial to better fit it to the site selected. On October 7, 1907, the contractors began the work of excavating for the foundation. This was stopped two days later by an order from the supreme court of the District of Columbia directing the officer in charge of public buildings and grounds to show cause why he should not be enjoined from permitting trees in the Botanic Garden grounds being cut down for the purpose of erecting the memorial. In compliance with an order of the commission, the contractors were notified on October 19 that further work would not be permitted until further notice. In April, 1908, by order of the commission, three historic trees on the site were moved to another location in the grounds, and on May 18, 1908, work for constructing the foundation was resumed, and completed in July. Operations during the fiscal year have been as follows: On July 29, 1908, the commission extended the date for completing the memorial for three years from August 10, 1908. Work was commenced in August, 1908, on the construction of the marble superstructure. This was completed by January 7, 1909, and in the same month the four bronze lions designed for the memorial were erected. In March the ground around the memorial was cleared and rough graded. In April, 4 of the 8 bronze lamp-posts were set in position, and in June the work of placing the remaining posts was completed. The work remaining to be done for completing the memorial is as follows: Erecting upon the center pedestal the statue of General Grant and placing the two bas-reliefs on that pedestal, and erecting the bronze artillery group and the bronze cavalry group on the end pedestals. The quarter-size models of the bas-reliefs and of the artillery group have been approved by the commission. |