Henry W Grady Monument

Public Art : Henry W Grady Monument

Sculptor: © Alexander Doyle (1858 - 1922)

Date: Originally dedicated on October 21, 1891

Description: The bronze monument features a 10ft statue of a defiant Grady standing  up on a marble base. Sitting on either side of the base are two bronze statues of women. Both women are sitting on a bench with a footstool. On the foot stool is engraved: "Gorham Manufacturing Co. Founders.". The women are each holding a wreath with the inscription "This hour little needs the loyalty that is loyal to one section and yet holds the other in enduring suspicion and estrangement. Give us the broad and perfect loyalty that loves and trusts Georgia alike with Massachusetts~that knows no South, no North, no East, no West; but endures with equal and patriotic love every foot of our soil, every State in our Union." "Boston, December 1889".

Location: Intersection of Marietta and Forsyth Streets, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Outside the headquarters of Henry Grady's old haunt, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Commissioned By : Unknown

Background: Henry Woodfin Grady (May 24, 1850 – December 23, 1889) was Atlanta’s famous “New South” newspaper editor who was noted for coining the phrase "New South". Grady was the son of a wealthy merchant. His father, who was also a Confederate soldier, died in battle during the Civil War. Grady attended the University of Georgia and the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville . In 1869, at the age of 19, he began learning his trade as a journalist at the Rome Courier. One of his most notiable achievements was in 1874 when he wrote an editorial in the Atlanta Herald entitled "The New South". Grady was also praised for his great passion for political debate (he supported Prohibition and elderly Confederate soldiers), commitment to the "new" peace in the south, and for his great sense of humor.

History: In 1890 American sculptor Alexander Doyle was commissioned to design the Henry Grady monument. When the 10ft monument was unveiled on 21st of October, 1891, over 25,000 people turned out for the occassion. On November 20, 1929, the area ,where the monument was erected, was named Henry Grady Plaza. The statue was later moved from the sidewalk to the centre of the street for a better aesthetic view. Over the years the monument has been restored.

Dark Day in History: In 1906, during the Atlanta Race Riot, a mob of about 10,000 white men, including the working class, middle class and professionals, went on a rampage through the Atlanta streets. The group attacked two defenceless black barbers, eventually killing them, and then went on to kill a third black man. Not satisfied, the mob then dragged the bodies of these men to the Henry Grady statue, where some reports say the bodies were draped over it.

Inscriptions:

Other Works by Alexander Doyle : Most of Doyles work was completed before he turned 26.

Statue of "Liberty" in bronze for a monument at Peabody, massachusetts.
Colossal statue of "Education" in granite 14 feet high for the Pilgrims' monument at Washington, D.C.
"Margaret" statue in marble at New Orleans.
A bronze statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee It was 16 1/2 feet in height and weighed nearly 7,000 pounds, being the largest bronze statue ever cast in New York up to that time.
Statue of Albert Sidney Johnson for New Orleans
Statue Senator Ben Hill at Atlanta
Statue Bishop Pickney for Washington
Garfield statue in the Cleveland monument
Horace Greeley Statue 1892

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