US Presidential Statues 1877-1913 – City of Presidents Tour Rapid City, SD

City of Presidents Guide

On a road trip in May of 2022, we found ourselves in Rapid City, South Dakota. We had visited Mt. Rushmore on a previous visit but had never checked out what they call the City of Presidents. This is a series of life-sized bronze statues located among the city and streets of downtown Rapid City. According to their site, The City of Presidents project began in 2000 to honor the legacy of the American presidency. Each sculpture is privately funded, and the pattern of placement was chosen to maintain an orderly structure and eliminate any sense of favoritism or political gain. The City of Presidents is part of the Rapid City Historic District Tour. This is part 3 of a 5 part series on these amazing statues and includes US Presidential statues 1877-1913. I hope you enjoy the series as much as I enjoyed learning a lot about our former Presidents while doing research.

US Presidential Statues 1877-1913 include former presidents:

Rutherford B. Hayes

US Presidential Statues 1877-1913 - HayesNineteenth President

Date of Birth – October 4, 1822

Birthplace – Delaware, Ohio

Education – Kenyon College (graduated 1842), Harvard Law School (graduated 1845)

Career – Lawyer

Political Party – Republican

Nickname – “Dark-Horse President,” “Rud”

Date of Inauguration – March 5, 1877

Date Ended – March 4, 1881

Date of Death -January 17, 1893

Burial place – Spiegel Grove State Park, Fremont, Ohio

Quote – “Personally I do not resort to force–not even the force of law–to advance moral reforms. I prefer education, argument, persuasion, and above all the influence of example.”

James A. Garfield

US Presidential Statues 1877-1913 - GarfieldTwentieth President

Date of Birth – November 19, 1831

Birthplace – Orange Township, Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Education – Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College), Williams College (graduated 1856)

Career – Teacher, Public Official

Political Party – Republican

Nickname –

Date of Inauguration – March 4, 1881

Date Ended –

Date of Death – 

Burial place – Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio

Quote – “Whoever controls the volume of money in our country is absolute master of all industry and commerce…when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate.”

Chester Arthur 

US Presidential Statues 1877-1913 - AuthurTwenty-First President

Date of Birth – October 5, 1829

Birthplace – Fairfield, Vermont

Education – Union College (graduated 1848)

Career – Lawyer

Political Party – Republican

Nickname –  “The Gentleman Boss”

Date of Inauguration – September 19, 1881

Date Ended -March 4, 1885

Date of Death – November 18, 1886

Burial place – Albany, New York

Quote – “It is provided by the Constitution that the President shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the state of the Union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

Grover Cleveland

US Presidential Statues 1877-1913 - ClevelandTwenty-Second President

Date of Birth –  March 18, 1837

Birthplace – Caldwell, New Jersey

Education – Some common school; Read law (1855–1859)

Career – Lawyer

Political Party – Democrat

Nickname – “Big Steve”, “Uncle Jumbo”

Date of Inauguration – March 5, 1888

Date Ended – March 4, 1889

Date of Death -June 24, 1908

Burial place –  Princeton, New Jersey

Quote –  “The laboring classes constitute the main part of our population. They should be protected in their efforts peaceably to assert their rights when endangered by aggregated capital and all statutes on this subject should recognize the care of the State for honest toil and be framed with a view of improving the condition of the workingman”

Benjamin Harrison

US Presidential Statues 1877-1913 - HarrisonTwenty-Third President

Date of Birth – August 20, 1833

Birthplace – North Bend, Ohio

Education – Miami University (Ohio), graduated 1852

Career – Lawyer

Political Party – Republican

Nickname –  “Kid Gloves Harrison,” “Little Ben”

Date of Inauguration – March 4, 1889

Date Ended -March 4, 1893

Date of Death – March 13, 1901

Burial place – Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana

Quote – “There never has been a time in our history when work was so abundant or when wages were as high, whether measured by the currency in which they are paid or by their power to supply the necessaries and comforts of life.”

Grover Cleveland

US Presidential Statues 1877-1913 - ClevelandTwenty-Fourth President

Date of Birth –  March 18, 1837

Birthplace – Caldwell, New Jersey

Education – Some common school; Read law (1855–1859)

Career – Lawyer

Political Party – Democrat

Nickname – “Big Steve”, “Uncle Jumbo”

Date of Inauguration – March 5, 1893

Date Ended – March 4, 1897

Date of Death -June 24, 1908

Burial place –  Princeton, New Jersey

Quote – “Loyalty to the principles upon which our Government rests positively demands that the equality before the law which it guarantees to every citizen should be justly and in good faith conceded in all parts of the land.”

William McKinley

US Presidential Statues 1877-1913 - McKinleyTwenty-Fifth President

Date of Birth – January 29, 1843

Birthplace – Niles, Ohio

Education – Allegheny College

Career – Lawyer

Political Party – Republican

Nickname – “Idol of Ohio”

Date of Inauguration – March 4, 1897

Date Ended – September 14, 1901

Date of Death -September 14, 1901

Burial place – Canton, Ohio (adjacent to Westlawn Cemetery)

Quote – “That’s all a man can hope for during his lifetime – to set an example – and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history.”

Theodore Roosevelt

US Presidential Statues 1877-1913 - RooseveltTwenty-Sixth President

Date of Birth –  October 27, 1858

Birthplace – New York, New York

Education – Harvard College (graduated 1880)

Career – Author, Lawyer, Public Official

Political Party – Republican

Nickname – “TR”, “Trust-Buster”, “Teddy”

Date of Inauguration – September 14, 1901

Date Ended – March 4, 1909

Date of Death -January 6, 1919

Burial place – Oyster Bay, New York

Quote – “We need the iron qualities that go with true manhood. We need the positive virtues of resolution, of courage, of indomitable will, of power to do without shrinking the rough work that must always be done.”

William H. Taft 

US Presidential Statues 1877-1913 - TaftTwenty-Seventh President

Date of Birth – September 15, 1857

Birthplace – Cincinnati, Ohio

Education – Yale College (graduated 1878), Cincinnati Law School (LL.B., 1880)

Career – Lawyer, Public Official

Political Party – Republican

Nickname –

Date of Inauguration – March 4, 1909

Date Ended – March 4, 1913

Date of Death – March 8, 1930

Burial place – Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia

Quote – “Don’t write to that you can be understood, write so that you can’t be misunderstood.”

Rapid City - Badlands
Badlands

US Presidential Statues 1877-1913

We had a great time checking out the US Presidential Statues 1877-1913 while in Rapid City. Here is a link to a map of which presidents are included in the City of Presidents, and on which street corners they can be found. If you are in the area, it is a fun adventure. One thing to note, a server at a restaurant shared that during the winter people will put gloves, hats, scarves, etc on the statues for the homeless people to take and use. I thought that was quite kind of the people of Rapid City.  Here are the links to the other posts on this series:

US Presidential Statues 1789-1841 
US Presidential Statues 1841-1877
US Presidential Statues 1913-1969

 

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