Finalists picked for new statue to represent Ohio in nation’s Capitol!
24 February 2010
No CommentThe Cleveland Plain Dealer
By Joe Guillen, The Plain Dealer
Posted February 24th 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohioans will pick from a list of 10 finalists revealed Tuesday to represent the state in a collection of historic statues at the U.S. Capitol.
The short list includes Olympic athlete Jesse Owens, Thomas Edison, one of history’s most influential inventors, and author Harriet Beecher Stowe.
A state committee, guided by the public’s input, will make a final recommendation to the General Assembly in July to replace William Allen – a 19th Century governor with pro-slavery views — in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, D.C., where each state is represented by two historic figures who capture its spirit and values.
Beginning March 20, Ohio residents of all ages will be able to pick their choice for Ohio’s new statue at about 30 historical sites across the state, including the Western Reserve Historical Society on East Boulevard in Cleveland. Ballots also will be available online later, and voting will end in June.
The state committee of six legislators chose the 10 finalists, who must be deceased, from more than 90 nominees.
The other finalists are James Ashley, an abolitionist and U.S. representative; Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War general and U.S. president; William McCulloch, politician and civil rights activist; Judith Resnik, astronaut who died in the Challenger explosion; Albert Sabin, medical researcher; Harriet Taylor Upton, advocate for women’s suffrage; and the Wright brothers, inventors of the first airplane.
The winning finalist will join a statue of former President James A. Garfield as representatives of Ohio in the Capitol.
State lawmakers decided to replace Allen in 2006.
“He does not reflect our values in Ohio,” said Sen. Teresa Fedor, a Democrat from Toledo who served on the committee that picked the finalists. “We wanted to replace him with someone who reflected what the majority would think.”
A non-profit commission will pick a sculptor and raise money to build the statue and transport it to Washington, D.C. Costs are estimated to be under $1 million, said Douglass McDonald, president and CEO of the Cincinnati Museum Center, who will chair the commission.
Ohio is the fourth state to replace one of its two statues since states were given the ability to do so in 2000. Most recently, Alabama replaced Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, an increasingly obscure historical figure, with Helen Keller, who became a successful author and lecturer despite being deaf and blind.
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