D. R. Atchison, (sculpture).

D. R. Atchison, (sculpture).

Hibbard, Frederick Cleveland, 1881-1950, sculptor.

Chicago Art Bronze Works, founder.

D. R. Atchison, (sculpture).

David Rice Atchison, (sculpture).

1928. Dedicated Oct. 27, 1928.

Figure: bronze; Base: pink granite.

Figure: approx. 7 x 2 1/2 x 2 ft.; Base: approx. 7 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/2 ft.

Frederick C. Hibbard Sc. 1928 Chicago Art Bronze Works, Inc. (On plaque, front of base:) DAVID RICE ATCHISON/1807 - 1888/PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES/ONE DAY/LAWYER, STATESMAN AND JURIST/U. S. SENATE 1843 - 1855/---/ERECTED BY STATE OF MISSOURI/MEMORIAL COMMISSION/SENATOR B. T. GORDON, CHAIRMAN/REPRESENTATIVE HUGH M. MARSH/JOSEPH C. BLACK, MEMBER signed Founder's mark appears.

Full-length standing portrait of David Rice Atchison. He portrayed as State Senator and stands with his proper left leg forward, holding a paper or scroll rolled up in his proper right hand. He is wearing a necktie and waistcoat with a long back. The sculpture is mounted atop a rectangular base with a short, wide, stepped bottom.

Portrait male -- Atchison, David Rice -- Full length

Occupation -- Political -- Senator

Occupation -- Political -- State Congressman

Occupation -- Law -- Lawyer

Occupation -- Law -- Judge

Occupation -- Military -- General

Object -- Written Matter -- Scroll

Outdoor Sculpture -- Missouri -- Plattsburg

Administered by Clinton County, West Maple & North Main, Plattsburg, Missouri 64477

Located Clinton County Courthouse, Plattsburg, Missouri

The sculpture commemorates David Rice Atchison (1807-1886), and was erected by an act of the Missouri 54th General Assembly. It was dedicated October 27, 1928, by his great-great-nephew and namesake. The Missouri State legislature appropriated $15,000 for the sculpture, and a memorial commission composed of Senator B. T. Gordon, Representative H. M. Marsh, and Hon. Jos. Black, were charged with erecting it. Atchison, who was born and raised in Kentucky, spent the rest of his life in Missouri. He first settled in Liberty, where he was an attorney and Major General of the northern division of the Missouri State Militia, and next in Platte City, where he served as Circuit Judge. He was elected to the Missouri State Legislature in 1834 and in 1838, and served as a United States Senator from Missouri between 1843 and 1855, during which time he acted as President of the Senate.

March 4, 1849, usually Inauguration Day, was a Sunday, so Zachary Taylor, who had been elected President of the United States, was not inaugurated until the next day. Therefore Senator Atchison, as presiding officer of the Senate, was acting President of the United States for one day. Atchison is responsible for the plan to add the "Platte Purchase" to the State of Missouri. Atchison County, because of this, was named in his honor. He was a leader of the pro-slavery party in Kansas after retiring from the Senate, and upon the outbreak of the Civil War, joined the Confederate Army. IAS files contain a transcription of a nearby plaque. IAS files contain a related excerpt from the Plattsburg Sesquicentennial Committee's "Plattsburg Pictoral History," 1983, pg. 76-78, 110, which contains transcripts from The Plattsburg Leader, including a related article dated Nov. 2, 1928, which discusses the dedication.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Missouri survey, 1995

Plattsburg Sesquicentennial Committee, "Plattsburg Pictoral History," 1983, pg. 76.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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