Samuel Colt Monument, (sculpture).

Samuel Colt Monument, (sculpture).

Rhind, John Massey, 1860-1936, sculptor.

Gorham Manufacturing Company, founder.

Samuel Colt Monument, (sculpture).

1905. Dedicated April 26, 1906.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite.

Overall: approx. 20 ft. 6 in. x 30 ft. x 40 ft.; Sculpture: approx. H. 18 ft. x D. 4 ft. 4 in.

GORHAM MFG Co. Founder (Front center of exedra:) SAMUEL COLT/1814-1862/ON THE GROUNDS ON WHICH/HIS TASTE BEAUTIFIED/BY THE HOME HE LOVED/THIS MEMORIAL STANDS/TO SPEAK OF HIS GENIUS/HIS ENTERPRISE AND HIS/SUCCESS AND OF HIS/GREAT AND LOYAL HEART (Rear center of exedra:) HIS WIFE IN FAITHFUL AFFECTION/DEDICATES THIS MEMORIAL/1905 (Embedded in stone of base in front of center of exedra:) VINCIT QUI PATITUR (Beneath left relief:) Royal presentation Saint Peters 8VRC 1854 (Beneath right relief:) Demonstration before the House of Commons 1854/J. Massey Rhind ScVI Founder's mark appears.

An elaborate memorial comprised of granite stairs that lead to an exedra topped by a bronze full-length standing portrait of Samuel Colt as a grown man and industrial tycoon. On the granite steps below, there is a bronze seated portrait of Samuel Colt as a young sailor holding a wooden revolver that he has whittled. The wings of the exedra contain two relief panels depicting scenes from Colt's life. In the panel on the left, Colt is presenting sample guns to the Czar of Russia. In the panel on the right, Colt is demonstrating his gun to the British House of Commons.

Portrait male -- Colt, Samuel -- Full length

Occupation -- Military -- Colonel

Occupation -- Science -- Inventor

Object -- Weapon -- Gun

Outdoor Sculpture -- Connecticut -- Hartford

Administered by City of Hartford, Parks and Recreation Department, 106 Wethersfield Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut 06114

Located Colt Park, Wethersfield Avenue entrance, Hartford, Connecticut 06106

The memorial commemorates Samuel Colt, one of Hartford's leading citizens, and inventor of the Colt revolver. While serving as a sailor at the age of 16, Colt conceived the idea for a pistol with a revolving cylinder. The patent was issued by the U.S. Patent Office in 1832. Colt opened the Colt Firearms factory in Hartford in 1847, making him one of the wealthiest industrialists in the city. In 1854, during a triumphal tour of Europe, he was widely honored for his inventions. He died in 1862. In 1905, his widow commissioned the sculpture to stand at the entrance to Colt Park, the grounds of the Colt estate, which she had donated to the city for use as a public park. The sculpture was unveiled on April 26, 1906.

IAS files contain articles from The Hartford Courant, June 24, 1964, pg. 25; and The Hartford Times, Feb. 14, 1947, pg. 34; July 27, 1960, pg. 4; and March 30, 1975, Accent, pg. 2. For further reading see: Marion Hepburn Grant's "In and About Hartford," (Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society, 1978), pg. 129; and exhibition catalog "Hartford's Outdoor Sculpture," Trinity College, April 1981, pg. 55-56.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Connecticut survey, 1993.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985.

SOS Conservation Treatment Award, 2001.

The Hartford Times, Accent, March 30, 1975, pg. 2.

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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