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Commemorative statue & column · Dedicated July 4, 1855

Henry Clay Monument

The Henry Clay Monument — a tall white column topped by a statue of Henry Clay — on the wooded hillside above downtown Pottsville.
The Henry Clay Monument crowns the hill above Pottsville, dedicated July 4, 1855. Schuylkill Hub
Location
South Centre Street near Washington Street, Pottsville, PA
Dedicated
July 4, 1855
Designer / maker
Frank Hewson (column) · H. Wesche (statue) · Robert Wood & Co., Philadelphia (foundry)
Status
Extant
Coordinates
40.68152, -76.1927 · Open in Maps · Verified location
Walking tour
Stop 11 of 11 on Historic Downtown Pottsville Walking Tour

The Henry Clay Monument is a cast-iron statue of the statesman Henry Clay standing atop a Doric column, the whole rising about 67 feet. Begun within weeks of Clay’s death in 1852 and dedicated on July 4, 1855, it was the first monument to Henry Clay erected anywhere in the United States, and its figure is regarded as the first monumental cast-iron sculpture made in America. It crowns a ridge overlooking downtown Pottsville.

Why Pottsville

Henry Clay (1777–1852) championed the “American System,” an economic program built on protective tariffs to foster domestic industry. Because tariffs on imported iron spurred American iron-making, and iron-making consumed coal, Clay’s program was enormously popular in the anthracite Coal Region — and nowhere more than in Pottsville. As Schuylkill County Historical Society president Leo L. Ward later put it, the city’s citizens felt “every state in the Union would erect a monument to him and they wanted to be the first.”

Commissioning and makers

Within a month of Clay’s death, residents organized the Henry Clay Monument Association, whose largest funder was coal operator Samuel Sillyman. On July 26, 1852, before some 1,600 mourners, a cornerstone was laid on a hillside parcel donated by John Bannan, a Pottsville attorney, below his “Cloud Home” estate. The work is recorded on the monument’s own north face: Frank Hewson designed the column; George B. Fissler and Brother cast its iron segments; H. Wesche designed the statue; and Robert Wood & Company of Philadelphia cast the figure — using about 150 wooden patterns — producing the first monumental cast-iron statue made in the United States.

Construction

Work stalled for want of funds after the cornerstone was laid, resuming in 1854. The total cost was about $7,151. The first column section reached nearby Port Carbon on September 26, 1854 and was hauled to Pottsville; on June 23, 1855 the assembled column was dragged up the hill by twelve mules, and the seven-ton statue was hoisted atop it. The statue initially faced east but was turned the next day to face north, overlooking the city.

Condition

By the early 1980s the monument had deteriorated; a community-funded restoration ran from 1983, with rededication on October 19, 1985. Local coverage has since reported continuing erosion and vandalism concerns at the steep, tree-screened hillside site — which, reached only by a narrow road, makes it the hardest of the Pottsville monuments to photograph.

A mid-19th-century lithograph, 'Clay Monument, Pottsville,' showing the tall fluted Doric column topped by a statue of Henry Clay, a small figure at its inscribed base and two strollers on the landscaped hillside.
"Clay Monument, Pottsville" — a lithograph of the Henry Clay Monument by J. Queen for P.S. Duval & Co., c.1851–1857. Lithograph: J. Queen / P.S. Duval & Co. (c.1851-1857), Library of Congress (public domain)
A c.1910 halftone photograph captioned 'Henry Clay Monument, Pottsville, Pa.': the fluted stone column and statue of Clay rising on its stepped base above a wooded hillside, houses and a rail yard below.
The Henry Clay Monument on its hill above Pottsville, photographed about 1910. Photo: Historical Society of Schuylkill County, c.1910 (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons

From the archive

Historic maps and photographs from the Schuylkill Hub archive, each available as an archival print.

Sources

Frequently asked

Why is the Henry Clay Monument historically significant?
On two counts: it was the first monument to Henry Clay erected anywhere in the United States, and its figure is regarded as the first monumental cast-iron statue made in America — a product of the very iron-and-coal economy Clay's tariff politics had nurtured.
When was it built and restored?
Its cornerstone was laid July 26, 1852, weeks after Clay's death, and it was dedicated July 4, 1855. After deterioration, a community-funded restoration ran 1983–1985, with a rededication on October 19, 1985.

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