Most Philadelphians are familiar with this commanding-looking statue of General George Washington, which sits in Eakins Oval at the base of the “Rocky Steps” in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Few Philadelphians know that it was given as a gift to the City of Philadelphia in 1897 by the State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania.
Read outtakes from a book published to commemorate the 1897 unveiling of Philadelphia’s Washington Monument, an event attended by U.S. President McKinley, many of his Cabinet, the Ambassador of France, the Governors of New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, and many thousands of others. It is a fascinating snapshot of by-gone era.
