Central Park In Bronze

Location: 72nd Street, west side

Artist/Designer: Thomas Ball

Materials: Bronze, Quincy granite

Installation: 1876

Funding: Gordon W. Burnham

 

This colossal statue on a huge pedestal—34 feet high—is a larger-than-life replica of a mass-produced statuette done by Thomas Ball, which was found in many homes in the mid-nineteenth century. Wealthy businessman Gordon W. Burnham asked Ball to make a giant copy for Central Park. Daniel Webster (1782-1852) stands with his hand in his coat, looking slightly to the side, as if readying himself to deliver a speech or to argue one of the 223 cases he made before the Supreme Court.

 

Daniel Webster was one of the most sought-after speakers in America. Secretary of State under three different presidents, a senator for more than 19 years and three-time presidential candidate, Webster fought hard in the years before the Civil War to hold together the Union and limit dissension over the issue of slavery. A fiery orator and constitutional law expert, Webster held audiences captivated by his powerful speeches. Some liken his speeches to those more than a century later delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr.