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A famous image from the history of the US Revolutionary War is the pulling down of the statue of King George III in Manhattan.

enter image description here

Source: www.teachushistory.org

It seems pretty clear that the statue was in Bowling Green Park, but it isn't clear where in the park it was or how to find that location today.

Is the specific location of the statue known today? If so, how can I find it? Is there any marker or landmark at the location now or is every trace gone?

The scope of this question is about finding and visiting the location where this statue was found. I'm not asking about details of its construction or demolition or asking about political, cultural, or sociopolitical ramifications of its construction, presence, or demolition. I'm also not asking whether any pieces of the statue have survived, and if so, where they are today.

Robert Columbia
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  • Why would Americans mark the location of a statue of the tyrant they fought to be free of? The park where Americans gathered to defy the king is far more important than the location of the item they destroyed to dishonor the king. –  Dec 14 '16 at 03:23
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    @Tom perhaps because they wanted to preserve evidence of their triumph over the king? Maybe they suspected that future tourists might be interested? Perhaps they intended to put a different statue in its place? There are a lot of reasons we could speculate on. – Robert Columbia Dec 14 '16 at 03:26
  • future tourists .... really grasping for straws –  Dec 14 '16 at 03:56
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    Bowling Green park is small enough that you can visit every location in the park by taking a leisurely five-minute stroll. So, to answer "can I visit there today": yes. – phoog Dec 14 '16 at 05:02
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    @Tom Sure, the part about tourists is silly. But it's pretty common to replace the statue of the guy you hate with a new statue of the guy you love. People thought the event was sufficiently important to produce an engraving of it, so perhaps it was important enough to do other things, too. And, guess what? The answer says that there is a commemorative plaque marking the location of the statue of the tyrant they fought to be free of, and that the statue's pedestal remained in place for nearly 50 years after the statue was pulled down. – David Richerby Dec 14 '16 at 10:34
  • @DavidRicherby Note that no painting, drawing, engraving, or other likeness of the statue was produced while it actually existed. The one pictured is an engraving made from a painting by someone who was born in 1823 and came to the US in 1848! – Michael Hampton Dec 14 '16 at 17:31
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    Fun fact, the American's melted the statue and used the melted metal to make the bullets that they then shot at the British with. – Trevor Dec 14 '16 at 22:25
  • @Trevor Metals suitable for statues are not generally metals suitable for bullets, as far as I know. Is there any citation for this? – Random832 Dec 15 '16 at 04:28
  • @Random832 The description of the statue as "gilded lead" is not in serious dispute. And bullets have been made from lead for a very long time. Gen. Oliver Wolcott, who went on to become governor of Connecticut, personally oversaw the casting of the bullets and the recording of the number of bullets cast (42,088). A description of these events and further references can be found here. – Michael Hampton Dec 15 '16 at 05:00
  • @MichaelHampton Sorry, I didn't see anything on this page describing what the statue was made of, didn't look further, and assumed it would have been bronze. – Random832 Dec 15 '16 at 15:38
  • @Random832 First read about it in Ron Chernow's biography, "Washington." Also, here's a random source: http://www.aaronburrassociation.org/statue_of_king_.htm – Trevor Dec 15 '16 at 20:53

1 Answers1

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This turned out to be hard to find, but not impossible...

The Teach US History web page you linked to contained an interesting footnote:

(4) Marks, Arthur S. “The Statue of King George III in New York and the Iconology of Regicide,” The American Art Journal 13 (Summer 1981): 62

That article stated that the statue was a duplicate of one installed in London and also contained this further interesting footnote:

As to the appearance of Wilton's statue, we are stymied. As will be seen, neither monument -- that erected in London or in New York -- exists any longer; nor is there any visual record known of either. No topographical drawing or print, or sculptor's drawing, for example, has come to light which might give a specific sense of what the statue had looked like.9

  1. However, for the New York version there are some early plans of the area which locate the Bowling Green and the position of the statue's pedestal in its midst; see Stokes, vol. 1, pls. 46Aa, 46Ac, pp. 356-57, 360.

Stokes is The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909, which does contain this description and this drawing of the area as it existed then:

Plate 46 A-a
A Plan of Fort George at the City of New-York
Wash drawing on paper. 17 x 27½ Date depicted: c. 1773
Author: Claude Joseph Sauthier.
Owner: Library of Congress, Div. of Maps and Charts (Faden Collection, No. 95).

This plan is the most complete and detailed representation of the Fort that we possess. It must have been drawn prior to December 29, 1773, when the buildings in the Fort were destroyed by fire, and after August 16, 1770, as it shows the statue of George III, erected on that day in the Bowling Green. This statue was demolished on July 10, 1776, although the pedestal remained until 1818 (see Pis. 51 and 52).

To save you a trip through a badly constructed PDF, Plate 46Aa looks like this:

Plate 46Aa

Plate 46Ac turned out not to be interesting for this question.

The fence is exactly the same fence today as then, and is in the same location, so the statue would have been approximately where the George Delacorte memorial plaque currently is, at the northern edge of the fountain.

As you can see, America has largely forgotten that a statue of King George III ever stood here, and indeed, this park is also known as Evacuation Day Park to commemorate the departure of the last British troops on November 25, 1783.

Evacuation Day Plaza street sign

Michael Hampton
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    "forgotten": not in the least. There is a plaque on the fence that commemorates the statute. See https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/bowling-green/monuments/139.. – phoog Dec 14 '16 at 05:07
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    Oh hello, I never noticed that. Must have gotten distracted by the bull's balls or something... – Michael Hampton Dec 14 '16 at 05:08
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    IIRC the plaque is on the opposite side of the park from the bull (that is, the south side, facing the customs house/Museum of the American Indian). – phoog Dec 14 '16 at 05:11
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    @phoog Yes, I can see it there. I just never was on the plaza between the park and the museum, so I would have missed it. Definitely distracted by the bull's balls. – Michael Hampton Dec 14 '16 at 05:37
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    @phoog - That plaque is about the fence itself and only mentions the statue in reference to the fact that the same people who destroyed it also removed the crowns topping the fence. –  Dec 14 '16 at 06:12
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    @Tom that is correct. The primary purpose of the plaque is not to commemorate the statue, but it does so nonetheless. – phoog Dec 14 '16 at 06:28
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    @phoog - I'd beg to differ, mentioning that a statue was torn down does not "commemorate" that statue, if anything it commemorates the event. –  Dec 14 '16 at 07:27
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    @Tom "commemorate: to call to remembrance"; it is impossible to call an object's destruction to memory without also calling the object to memory. But if you prefer, I would happily accept some other word than "commemorate" if you can think of a better one. – phoog Dec 14 '16 at 07:42
  • @phoog - you and the OP seem determined to commemorate the tyrant that America revolted against, irregardless that America sought to forget him, so there is not much I can do to stop you. –  Dec 14 '16 at 07:57
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    @Tom I really think you're splitting hairs here. The plaque commemorates the events surrounding the statue. The question asks if there is a plaque or marker denoting the location of the statue. The answer shows that, yes, there is. Phoog has already offered to replace the word "commemorate" with something more suitable, if you have any suggestions. Are we done, now? – David Richerby Dec 14 '16 at 10:38
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    @davidricherby - The plaque does not mark the spot of the statue. It hangs on the fence that surrounds the park. –  Dec 14 '16 at 12:28
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    Scanning the Wikipedia page about King George III reminds me that his reign would probably have been unreservedly celebrated in history if it weren't for his health problems later in life, or his loss of all those colonies. He ruled for over 59 years which is third to Victoria and Elizabeth II, and a lot happened to GB/UK in those years. It is fitting to split a hair or two over what became of this monument. – cardiff space man Dec 14 '16 at 21:52
  • @cardiffspaceman great points. Everyone here has done a great job in keeping this a travel site and not veering off too much into politics. The site of this statue is no different than any other historical site that has significant sociopolitical relevancy. Great work! – Robert Columbia Dec 15 '16 at 13:49