Flagler Monument, (sculpture).

Flagler Monument, (sculpture).

Orr, John B., sculptor.

Peterson, H., sculptor.

Pellegatta, Ettore, sculptor.

Flagler Monument, (sculpture).

Henry Flagler Memorial, (sculpture).

Flagler Island Monument, (sculpture).

Commissioned 1920. Installed 1920.

Sculpture: painted concrete; Base: concrete.

Sculpture: approx. 100 ft. x 21 ft. 6 in. x 21 ft. 6 in.; Base: approx. 3 x 30 x 30 ft.

(Base of western figure:) Prosperity/Flagler (Base of southern figure:) Pioneer/Flagler (Base of eastern figure:) Education/Flagler (Base of northern figure:) Industry/Flagler unsigned

The work is a tall obelisk with four large figures standing around the bottom of the base, one on each side. The four figures represent Prosperity, Pioneering, Education, and Industrialism. The western figure, Prosperity, is a woman holding fruit in her proper right outstretched arm and a cornucopia in her proper left arm. The southern figure, Pioneering, is a man in pioneer dress shading his eyes with his proper left hand. The eastern figure, Education, is a woman in an Empire period dress holding an open book in her proper left arm with her proper right arm extended. The northern figure, Industrialism, is a man in a toga with a scroll in his proper left hand and a model train in his proper right arm. The sculpture is all that exists on Flagler Memorial Island, a small man-made island in the middle of Biscayne Bay, between the Venetian and MacArthur causeways. Access to the island is by boat.

Homage -- Flagler, Henry M.

Occupation -- Monetary -- Financier

Occupation -- Industry -- Oil

Occupation -- Transportation -- Railroad

Allegory -- Quality -- Wealth

Allegory -- Other -- Progress

Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Education

Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Industry

Outdoor Sculpture -- Florida -- Miami Beach

Administered by Department of Environmental Resources Management, Biscayne Bay Restoration and Enhancement Project, 111 N.W. 1st Street, Miami, Florida 33128

Located Flagler Memorial Island, Miami Beach, Florida

The monument honors Henry Morrison Flagler (1830-1913), a financier who used his wealth from the development of the Standard Oil Company and the Florida East Coast Railroad to make traveling to the state of Florida very desirable. In 1886, Flagler organized Florida East Coast Railroad, and later extended the railroad line down to Miami (1892-1896) and Key West (1913), building palatial resort hotels along its route, and thus triggering the growth of the southern part of Florida. The monument was commissioned in 1920 by Carl Fisher, one the founders of the City of Miami. The four figures at the base of the sculpture were sculpted by H. Peterson. For related newspaper articles see the Miami Herald, July 28, 1929; Dec. 5, 1937; June 23, 1940; Aug. 16, 1959; Nov. 28, 1961; Sept. 16, 1966; Feb. 3, 1967; May 3, 1968; and Nov. 8, 1968.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Florida, Miami survey, 1994.

Metro-Dade Center, Art in Public Places, 1988.

SOS Assessment Award, 2000.

Inventory staff, 2001.

Metro-Dade Center, Art in Public Places, "Monuments in Dade County," Nancy Block, 1988.

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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