Lewis and Clark Memorial Column

45°31′17″N 122°42′05″W / 45.521388°N 122.70139°W / 45.521388; -122.70139OwnerCity of Portland's Metropolitan Arts Commission

The Lewis and Clark Memorial Column is an outdoor monument by artist Otto Schumann, dedicated to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark for their expedition and located at Washington Park in Portland, Oregon.

Description

The sculpture, made of Snake River granite, is a Classical column with a sphere on top. It is approximately 34 feet, 6 inches tall, with a diameter of 2.5 feet. The obelisk sits on a square base that is approximately 5 feet, 5 inches tall. The base's sides display bronze seals for the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, which once comprised the Oregon Territory. An illuminated path leads up the monument. According to the Smithsonian Institution, the work is administered by City of Portland's Metropolitan Arts Commission.^[1]

History

The memorial was commissioned around 1902 by the Lewis & Clark Exposition Commission for approximately $10,500 as a "gift of the people of Oregon in memory" of the duo. President Theodore Roosevelt laid the first cornerstone on May 21, 1903, and the piece was completed and dedicated in 1908. It was surveyed and considered "well maintained" by Smithsonian's "Save Outdoor Sculpture!" program in November 1993.^[1]

See also

• 1908 in art
• Captain William Clark Monument, University of Portland
• Lewis and Clark (sculpture), Salem, Oregon
• Sacajawea and Jean-Baptiste (1905), Portland, Oregon

References

External links

• Media related to Lewis and Clark Memorial Column at Wikimedia Commons