Raise the Rutherford!

Part I: Overview

A six-part, slightly humorous series to erect a statue of Rutherford B. Hayes in Cincinnati.

I’ve decided Cincinnati needs a statue of President Rutherford B. Hayes. Born in October 4, 1822, in Delaware, Ohio, he graduated from Harvard in 1845. Eventually, he moved to Cincinnati in 1849 to practiced law and was elected City Solicitor in 1858. While in Cincinnati, he helped found the Ohio Republican Party (which I won’t hold against him.) Hayes served in the Civil War and while fighting, Cincinnatians elected him to Congress in 1864. We re-elected to Congress in 1866. He then served as Governor of Ohio for three terms beginning in 1867, 1869, and 1875. I have found references to him and his family living in a few places, the last in Walnut Hills, where he located as he was running for Governor in 1867. Finally, in Cincinnati at the Republican National Convention held in 1876 at Exhibition Hall, he was nominated for President of the United States. He won. (How he won will be discussed in Part II.)

So where’s the Rutherford love?


Downtown has three Presidential statues: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield and William Henry Harrison. In addition there is a statue of William Howard Taft at UC. Abraham Lincoln’s likeness is in Lytle Park. William Henry Harrison and James A. Garfield of course have statues is in Piatt Park. (Heck, Garfield even gets the street named after him.) I have no issue with a statue of Lincoln, and Harrison at least lived nearby and was a U.S. Representative (1816-1819), an Ohio State Representative (1819-1821) before he was a Senator and President. But I ask, when did Garfield, unlike Hayes, ever live in Cincinnati? Maybe when he was a canal boat operator? Maybe for a time during the Civil War? Certainly he stopped here at least a few times while he was Governor. But Rutherford B. Hayes has real ties here to Cincinnati. Oh, and don’t even get me started on the fact that both Harrison and Garfield have the two shortest terms in the White House of all U.S. Presidents. So why do they merit statues and not Hayes?

Both the Garfield and the Harrison statues in Piatt Park were erected with public subscriptions. So today I am calling for a public subscription to raise funds to "Raise the Rutherford!"

I estimate a design and construction cost of between $200,000 and $300,000 for a bronze statue and granite base. Cost will be a factor of the final design, most notably the size of statue and base. I imagine the design to be similar to the 1884 portrait by Daniel Huntington above . . . but I am willing to entertain additional ideas. The cost also does not include additional site work associated with the location chosen. Three site options will be presented in Parts III, IV and V.

Tomorrow: Part II - Hayes, Garfield and the Election of 1876

Research for this piece came mostly from here.