Benjamin Franklin Statue

Public Art : Benjamin Franklin statue

Sculptor : © Richard Saltonstall Greenough (April 19, 1819 – 1904)

Description : 8ft Bronze statue of one of the most famous natives of Boston, Benjamin Franklin. The four bronze panels around the statue highlight Franklin's life as a printer, as a scientist, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and at the signing of the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolution. The statue rests on the site of the first public school in America, and in front of Boston's old city hall building.

Date Unveiled : 1856

Location : Outside the Old City Hall, Boston, Massachusetts.

Background : Where does one start when descibing Benjamin Franklin. He was a author, scientist, inventor, politician, post master, statesman, activist, satirist, diplomat, printer, muscian and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

Benjamin Franklin was born on Milk Street, in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1706.His family wanted him to enter the clergy but instead he became an apprentice printer at his brother's business at the age of 12. By the time he was 15 he had founded the New England Courant newspaper. Franklin failed to complete his apprenticeship preferring to run away to Philadelphia.

Benjamin Franklin Trivia :

Tha Benjamin Franklin statue is older than the old city hall which was built in 1872 following a fire that saw the original building burn to the ground.

Franklin is the only person to sign all 4 of the United States' most important revolutionary-era documents those being:

The Declaration of Independence
The Treaty of Alliance with France
The Treaty of Peace with Great Britain
The Constitution of the United States