| Summary: | From note affixed to photograph: Richard E. Brooks (sculptor), G. Benninghausen Warner 3222 Statue of William Henry Seward by Richard Edwin Brooks (1865–1919) created in 1909 for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition and moved to Volunteer Park in 1910. William Henry Seward was United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as governor of New York and as a United States Senator. He also negotiated the Alaska Purchase in 1867. G. Beninghauser, a Seattle jeweler, is credited with suggesting that a monument be built to Seward in Seattle in appreciation for his statesmanship that resulted in the Alaska purchase. A Chamber of Commerce committee, headed by Judge Thomas Burke (1849-1925), with Professor Edmond Meany (1862-1935) acting as secretary, was charged with raising the $15,000 cost by subscription among the people of Seattle. Richard E. Brooks, who created the statue of Governor John H. McGraw (1850-1910) located in Seattle’s Times Square, was chosen to sculpt Seward’s likeness. The completed bronze statue is almost nine feet tall, and weighs close to 2,500 pounds. It stands atop a pedestal of imported granite, 10 feet by 11 inches in height. (HistoryLink.org Essay 8195) The Volunteer Park Conservatory (not shown) was completed in 1912.
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