2366 REPORT OF CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, U. S. ARMY. placed in position and the memorial completed and unveiled on July 3. A photograph of the memorial accompanies this report. STATUE OF JOHN WITHERSPOON. Public resolution No. 31, approved May 29, 1908, created a commission, composed of the chairman of the Committee on the Library of the Senate, the chairman of the Committee on the Library of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of War, and the chairman of the Witherspoon Memorial Association, to select and prepare a site and erect thereon a suitable pedestal, for which the sum of $4,000 was appropriated, for a statue in bronze of John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, to be provided by the Witherspoon Memorial Association. The commission selected as a site for the memorial, United States reservation 150 A, at the intersection of Connecticut avenue, Eighteenth and N streets NW. The artist, William Couper, who was selected to produce the work, submitted in November, for the consideration of the commission, a design for the pedestal, which was accepted, and on January 8, 1909, a contract was entered into with Mr. Couper for its erection, to be completed within four months from the date of contract. The foundation for the pedestal was constructed in April, 1909, and work for setting the pedestal and coping was commenced on May 6 and completed on May 17. The statue was then placed in position and unveiled on May 20, and turned over to the Government. A photograph of the memorial accompanies this report. UNVEILING OF THE LONGFELLOW, WITHERSPOON, AND GRAND ARMY MEMORIALS. Inasmuch as there were no appropriations available for the dedication of these monuments, the different associations defrayed the necessary outlay and conducted the exercises themselves, a permit being in each instance granted by this office for the use of the grounds for the purpose. The officers of the associations having immediate charge of the arrangements for each dedication invited Mr. Frederick D. Owen, of this office, who has had considerable experience in matters of this kind, to assume charge of the details connected with the exercises, and Mr. Owen performed most satisfactorily the duties offered him without charge and out of office hours. He designed and superintended the erection of stands, decorations, programme, and unveiling arrangements. As upon former occasions, the flags were carried aloft instead of falling to the ground. STATUE OF GEN. THADDEUS KOSCIUSZKO. The joint resolution of Congress approved April 18, 1904, accepted the offer of the Polish-American organizations and the Polish-American people of the United States generally to present a statue of General Kosciuszko, to be erected in the northeast corner of Lafayette Park. THE STEPHENSON MONUMENT, SEVENTH STREET AND LOUISIANA AVENUE NW. VIEW LOOKING EAST FROM SEVENTH STREET. |