PHOTOS: Independent Man Returns to Top of State House

PHOTOS: Independent Man Returns to Top of State House

 

The Rhode Island Independent Man was returned to the top of the Rhode Island State House on Wednesday morning.

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Initially, the sculpture was not to be created in the image of a golden god-like statue, but rather, it was to be Roger Williams.

Massachusetts-born George T. Brewster created the statue.

 

 

Noted Rhode Island College Historian Chester Smolski wrote, The ‘Independent Man’ was first proposed to be a statue of Roger Williams at the annual meeting of the Rhode Island Historical Society in 1895.”

“The statue, to be placed atop the proposed new State House, was designed by George T. Brewster for $3,000, who called the statue “Hope” and changed the design to fit the Renaissance Revival architecture of the building. The statue has only been taken down once, in 1975, for repair and a new coat of gold leaf. It is seen here being returned to it’s proper spot on 20 July 1976,” added Smolski, who died in 2008.

Now, it has come down and been returned twice.