........Roger Williams Memorial
...... .+ location Prospect Terrace, Congdon Street
........+.architect Ralph W. Walker
.//////.+ sculptor Leo Friedlander
........+ date 1936-39

Roger Williams Memorial Proposal of An Obelisk

..Founder and first citizen of Rhode Island, Roger Williams is commemorated all around Providence. The Roger Williams Memorial, the most promenant of these monuments, is located on Prospect Terrace, overlooking downtown. Plans for a monument memorializing Williams began as early as 1850, when the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers first raised one hundred dollars for the project. The following decade, Stephen Randall organized the Roger Williams Memorial Association, incorporating the state legislature for the purpose of the monument. Although a selection was made for a monument in the form of a Grecian column with space allocated at its base for other sculptures and historical inscriptions, these plans were not carried out.
..... After decades of wait, the memorial to Roger Williams was finally constructed for the city's celebration of its tercentenary in 1936. A new Roger Williams Memorial Association was organized and a design competition advised by the architect F. Ellis Jackson. The competition was held for a monument that would be placed "in a small park on the hill halfway up college hill, overlooking downtown." Stipulated in Randall's will for the competition were two requirements: the monument had to be designed for Prospect Terrace and it had to be tall enough that it could be seen from far away. Jackson organized the competition in two categories, the first of which was open for submission and the second of which was only for five invited architects, each of which were either residents of Rhode Island or citizens by birth or heritage. The five selected architects were William Aldrich of Boston, Albert Harkness of Providence, Wallis Howe of Providence, Chester Aldrich or New York, and Ralph walker of New York.
.....The winning proposal was designed by Architect Ralph T. Walker (who was a Rhode Islander by lineage) and sculptor Leo Friedlander. Chosen out of fifteen submission, the original design encompassed a monument with a stairway connecting the terrace to a park below with statues of two Native Americans around a reflecting pool of water. Design proposals by an unkown architect show a similar use of the area below Prospect Terrace. (Drawings by B.S.D. Martin). Other submissions include Albert Harkness's proposal for an obelisk memorial. The committee chose Walker's proposal because they felt it was "actively using space, emphasizing action, and encouraging spectators." The design was intended to be built in stages, but its completion was interrupted becuase of the financial stresses created by the Revolutionary War. The final construction of the memorial does not include the staircase, the smaller statues, or the reflective pool. The memorial today includes a colossal fourteen-foot high sculpture of Williams standing on a pedestal in front of a rectangular arch.
.....Made of Westerly granite, the statue demonstrates a new classical simplicity and linearity that developed after the WWI. The sculpture depicts Williams on the bow of his canoe, with his hand outstretched to bless the city he founded. Williams stands surrounded by a rectangular arch made of large granite pylons. The Roger Williams memorial was dedicated on June 29, 1939 at 3pm at Prospect Terrace. Over one thousand descendants and guests attended the celebration which included a concert, a reading of a dedication hym by William H. Lovecraft, an address by Hon. John F. Collins (Mayor of Providence at the time), an address by the architect Ralph walker, and a prayer service. Two bronze boxes were inserted in the base of the memorial, one which holds forty-four record items such as newpapers and listings of members of the Roger Williams Family Association. ..The other box holds the remains of Roger Williams, taken from the vault of the Rhode Island Historical Society. An insription at the base reads, "Here Reposes Dust From the Grave of Roger Williams."