Across the street from Crown Center at Pershing and Grand lies beautiful Washington Square Park where the bronze equestrian statue of George Washington at Valley Forge keeps watch.This statue is a replica of the one sculpted by Henry Merwin Shrady, cast in 1906 and located in Brooklyn, New York in the Williamsburg Bridge Plaza and Playground.
The citizens of Kansas City, through the Patriots and Pioneers Memorial Foundation, raised $17,500 for the statue in Washington Square Park. The original plaster mold had been destroyed, so a secondary casting was molded from the original bronze. From this plaster piece mold the bronze for the Kansas City statue was made using the "cere perdue" or lost wax method and cast by Roman Bronze Works.
The pedestal was furnished by the Kansas City Park Department for $17,500, the same cost as the statue and constructed by Wight & Wight architects. Cut from a single piece of Pink Minnesota Granite weighing approximately thirty tons, the huge block was set down on a cushion of lead to take care of expansion and contraction.
On the pedestal is inscribed:
One Hundred And Nine
Thousand Citizens Gave
This Statue To Their City
Dedicated
Armistice Day, 1925
Rededicated
Armistice Day, 1932
The Two Hundredth
Anniversary Year Of The
Birth of George Washington
The citizens of Kansas City, through the Patriots and Pioneers Memorial Foundation, raised $17,500 for the statue in Washington Square Park. The original plaster mold had been destroyed, so a secondary casting was molded from the original bronze. From this plaster piece mold the bronze for the Kansas City statue was made using the "cere perdue" or lost wax method and cast by Roman Bronze Works.
The pedestal was furnished by the Kansas City Park Department for $17,500, the same cost as the statue and constructed by Wight & Wight architects. Cut from a single piece of Pink Minnesota Granite weighing approximately thirty tons, the huge block was set down on a cushion of lead to take care of expansion and contraction.
On the pedestal is inscribed:
One Hundred And Nine
Thousand Citizens Gave
This Statue To Their City
Dedicated
Armistice Day, 1925
Rededicated
Armistice Day, 1932
The Two Hundredth
Anniversary Year Of The
Birth of George Washington
In 1921 the statue was placed temporarily in a park at Charlotte and Pacific Street. In 1925 it was moved to its current location in Washington Square Park. It was dedicated on Armistice Day, November 11, 1925.
But the George Washington statue does not live in the park alone. At night anywhere from 3-6 homeless people sleep there. Among them is Sally, a 54-year old woman from Massachusetts who has been homeless since July 27, 2006. Traveling from city to city, Sally found herself down and out in Jefferson City in June 2007. She had exhausted all of the homeless shelters and had nowhere else to go. A kind man gave her $20, so she went to the Amtrak counter and asked where she could go on $20. And so she arrived at Union Station in an unfamiliar place, looking for help. She could see the Cathedral of The Immaculate Conception on 12th street and walked there, but found no help there. So she walked back to Union Station where at midnight she was told she had to leave. Upon hearing that she had no place to go, the guard informed her she could sleep in Washington Square Park and the police would not bother her there.
After working for 33 years, Sally became homeless through a series of unfortunate events culminating with surgery on her ankle that went bad, leaving her with large, open wounds on her ankle and rendering her unable to work. When she arrived in Kansas City, she was frantically walking all over, trying to familiarize herself with the locale. Exhausted, she collapsed in front of Crown Center and was taken by ambulance to St. Luke’s Hospital. Nothing could be done for her there, but she did get to sleep in a bed that night, and the next morning they gave her two bus tickets and sent her on her way back to Washington Square Park.
After arriving in Kansas City Sally's billfold was stolen. To get a Missouri ID she needed her birth certificate. She couldn’t send for it since she doesn’t have an address to receive mail. A kind person who works at Union Station sent for the birth certificate on Sally’s behalf. With that, Sally was able to get a Missouri photo ID. Now perhaps she can find some part-time work here and there.
Minimum wage in Missouri is $6.65 or around $1150 a month. An apartment in mid-town would cost around $450 a month. Even if Sally could find a job that wouldn’t require her to be on her feet all day she would have to spend more than half of her after-tax salary for an apartment. That would leave very little for electricity, water, food and bus money.
And so Sally sleeps in Washington Square Park.
But the George Washington statue does not live in the park alone. At night anywhere from 3-6 homeless people sleep there. Among them is Sally, a 54-year old woman from Massachusetts who has been homeless since July 27, 2006. Traveling from city to city, Sally found herself down and out in Jefferson City in June 2007. She had exhausted all of the homeless shelters and had nowhere else to go. A kind man gave her $20, so she went to the Amtrak counter and asked where she could go on $20. And so she arrived at Union Station in an unfamiliar place, looking for help. She could see the Cathedral of The Immaculate Conception on 12th street and walked there, but found no help there. So she walked back to Union Station where at midnight she was told she had to leave. Upon hearing that she had no place to go, the guard informed her she could sleep in Washington Square Park and the police would not bother her there.
After working for 33 years, Sally became homeless through a series of unfortunate events culminating with surgery on her ankle that went bad, leaving her with large, open wounds on her ankle and rendering her unable to work. When she arrived in Kansas City, she was frantically walking all over, trying to familiarize herself with the locale. Exhausted, she collapsed in front of Crown Center and was taken by ambulance to St. Luke’s Hospital. Nothing could be done for her there, but she did get to sleep in a bed that night, and the next morning they gave her two bus tickets and sent her on her way back to Washington Square Park.
After arriving in Kansas City Sally's billfold was stolen. To get a Missouri ID she needed her birth certificate. She couldn’t send for it since she doesn’t have an address to receive mail. A kind person who works at Union Station sent for the birth certificate on Sally’s behalf. With that, Sally was able to get a Missouri photo ID. Now perhaps she can find some part-time work here and there.
Minimum wage in Missouri is $6.65 or around $1150 a month. An apartment in mid-town would cost around $450 a month. Even if Sally could find a job that wouldn’t require her to be on her feet all day she would have to spend more than half of her after-tax salary for an apartment. That would leave very little for electricity, water, food and bus money.
And so Sally sleeps in Washington Square Park.
2 comments:
Wonderful story. Hopefully Sally is holding up okay in our winter weather.
Sally is surviving through some very bitter nights in the park. She has 2 blankets and a tarp, sheepskin slippers and gloves, and several layers of clothing.
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