The Lovejoy Monument
The dedication of the Lovejoy Monument took place Monday, November 8th, 1897. It was the 60th anniversary of the death of the man who gave his life for free speech and a free press. A monument was dedicated to Lovejoy's
memory and to the beliefs for which he died. A statue of Victory stands at the top of the main shaft and large eagles with outstretched wing, top the two side columns. These express the ideas of triumph and fulfillment. The
monument was designed by R. P. Bringhurst, of St. Louis, assisted by Louis Mullgardt of St. Louis. The contract was given to the Culver Stone Company, of Springfield, Illinois, and Honorabie L Pfieffenberger supervised the
work for the association. The building committee consisted of Directors L. Pfeiffenberger, John E. Hayner, and Edward Levis, with Honorable Thomas Dimmock advisory member. 
The monument, is a huge granite column some 93 feet high, topped by a bronze statue of Victory,
17 feet high, weighing 8,700 pounds. This column, in three sections, weighing respectively 16, 18, and 22 tons, is one of the largest columns in the area. It stands in the certer of a terrace, 40 feet in
diameter, surrounded on three sides by granite outside walls, 8 feet high on the outside and having a seat on the inside. The terrace is reached by 8 granite steps. At the side of
the steps are two granite sentinel columns, 3O feet high. Mounted on the columns are two bronze eagles, with an 8 foot wingspread. On each of the four sides of the die is a
bronze panel with an inscription. The name Elijah Parish Lovejoy is placed on the back of the monument in granite letters about 15 inches high. With the exception of the bronze
, the monument is built entirely of light Barre granite.
Its cost was $30,000.00. It is worthy of the man and of the cause for which he died.
The Monument Inscriptions
The idea, of the monument association in preparing the inscriptions, was to let Lovejoy speak for himself as an editor, minister of the gospel, and opponent of slavery. A
quotation from his writings was placed under each of these heads. The fourth inscription is in honor of the men who stood by him in defense of his rights, and risked their lives
and property. The inscriptions and historical data are:
(South Front)
(Medallion of Lovejoy)
ELIJAH P. LOVEJOY
EDITOR ALTON OBSERVER
Albion, Maine. November 8, 1802
Alton, Illinois, November 7, 1837
A MARTYR TO LIBERTY
"I have sworn eternal opposition to slavery, and by the blessing of God, I will never go back."
(North Front)
CHAMPION OF FREE SPEECH
(Cut of Lovejoy Press)
"But, gentlemen, as long as I am an American citizen, and as long as American blood
runs in these veins, I shall hold myself at liberty to speak, to write, to publish whatever I please on any subject-being amenable to the laws of my country for the same."
(East Panel)
MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL
MODERATOR OF
ALTON PRESBYTERY
"If the laws of my country fail to protect me I appeal to God, and with him I cheerfully
rest my cause. I can die at m y post but I cannot desert it."
(West Panel)
SLAVE VICTORIES!
This monument commemorates the valor, devotion, and sacrifices of the noble
Defenders of the Press, who, in this city, on November 7, 1837, made the first armed resistance to the aggressions of the slave power in America.
In addition to these epitaphs in bronze the following explanatory insciptions are placed on the granite bases below the urns:
Erected
by the State of Illinois
and citizens of Alton.
1896-'97
Dedicated
In gratitude of God,
and in the love of Liberty,
November 8, 1897
Robert Wadlow
transcribed by Suzanne Bradshaw
Robert Pershing Wadlow was a shy, bespectacled, friendly, young giant when he died July 14, 1940 at the age of 22. He was still the tallest man in history. He was born, educated and is buried in Alton.
There's a life-size statue on College Avenue in Alton and a handsome marker at his long narrow tomb in Upper Alton Cemetery. In the Main Street Methodist Church there is a
pipe organ he helped buy and which bears his name. There are some photographs of him still around, a collection of memorabilia at the Alton Museum of History and Art, a
few newspaper clippings, and a book about him published shortly after his death.
Thats about all the evidence of the nationwide sensation Robert Wadlow once created - but he probably wouldn't be disappointed at his oblivion. He never
sought publicity from the day reporters learned about a boy too big for his school desk, until the day of his death in a michigan hotel room, his activities were followed by
almost every major newspaper in the country. "He never had any privacy except in his own home," said his father, Harold F. Wadlow, Mayor of Alton from 1945 to 1949. "But Robert never complained."
The man who weighed almost 500 pounds when he died weighed a normal eight pounds, six ounces when he was born, February 22, 1918, in a small frame house on Monroe
Street in Alton. When he was six months old he weighed a hefty 62 pounds. He continued to grow at a fantastic rate, reaching six feet, two and a half inches, and 195
pounds - larger than many grown men - by the time he was eight years old.
He tried to live as normal a life as possible and do the things most boys his age enjoyed.
He collected stamps, matchbooks, and took up photography. he joined the Alton YMCA when he was 11, and became the world's tallest Boy Scout at seven feet, four
inches, when he was 13. He swam, fished, played with his little brother, Harold Jr., and loved ice cream. When he was 17, he opened a soft drink stand in front of his home on
Brown Street. The next summer he operated a similar stand at the 1936 Illinois State Fair in Springfield. He was eight feet, four inches tall then, and weighed 390 pounds.
Robert received a scholarship to Shurtleff College of Alton and enrolled after he was graduated from high school. He planned to study prelaw. He quit after one year, mostly,
his father said, because he had trouble moving from building to building between classes. It was often difficult for the college to provide adequate seating arrangements for its then eight-feet-four inch tall student.
Robert lived in a world built for men three feet shorter than he. He had to bend down to go through doorways, stoop to peer in mirrors and fold almost double to enter his
parent's specially converted automobile. He had to climb stairs sideways to crowd his huge feet on the steps, duck to escape low hanging ceiling fans, and walk down the
street side-stepping store awnings. Clothes were also a problem. His size 37 shoes cost his blue collar working father $100 a pair. It required three times the normal amount of cloth to make the boy a suit.
Robert did however, eat only slightly more food than most people. His modest appetite was distorted to glutonous proportions by magazines and newspapers. His father
eventually had to quit his job as a foreman at Shell Oil Company when Robert was 18. He became the boy's manager for an avalanche of offers for tours and promotions, etc.
The pair soon made a one year, nationwide tour of schools, theaters and lecture halls. When Robert was 19 he joined Ringling Brothers Circus for a dignified act as a main
attraction. He made a six week appearance in the East with the circus.
When he was 20 he traveled all over the West Coast as a goodwill ambassador for a
subsidiary of the International Shoe Company, St. Louis. The firm thereafter provided him with his huge shoes free of charge. In the four years Robert and his father traveled,
they logged 300,000 miles and visited over 800 towns in 41 states.
Robert was remarkably healthy as a boy. He escaped most of the minor accidents and
illnesses that almost all young children experience. He did, however, have considerable trouble throughout his life with his large feet. He was treated at Barnes Hospital in St.
Louis no fewer than five times for foot infections and broken bones. According to one medical report, "He had little sensation in his feet and did not feel chafing until blisters
formed." Blisters did form when a brace on a weak left ankle began to chafe during a hot July in 1940. The 22 year old giant was making a personal appearance at the
National Forest Festival in a small lumber town called Manistee, Michigan.
Robert as always, cheerfully accommodated the curious crowds who came to see him.
But his father could tell the ankle was bothering him. Infection set in, and on the Fourth of July, the big day of the festival, a doctor confined him to a hotel bed, unable to make
accommodations at the tiny local hospital. On July 14, ten fever-wracked days after he took to his hotel bed, doctors performed an emergency operation on his foot. Then they
gave him a blood transfusion. His temperature began to rise further, hovering around 106 degrees for the remainder of the day. He fell asleep and at 1:30 a.m. he died quietly in his sleep.
Robert was 8 feet 11 inches tall when he died and
weighed a little more than 490 pounds. He was 22 years old. He had been the tallest person in the world since 1939, when, at the age of 18, he "out grew" an 8 feet, 4 inch Irish giant who died 60 years before.
Robert's body was brought back to Alton two days later for burial. An estimated 40,000 persons filed past his bier the Streeper Funeral home. Another 10,000 showed up at the funeral home for services July 19, and
later that day for Masonic burial services in Upper Alton Cemetery.
All city businesses were closed for the funeral. The 1,000 pound casket required twelve
pallbearers assisted by eight other men. It was placed in a 12 foot long reinforced concrete tomb. There were rumors the body would be stolen, but there was no theft.
The next day an Alton Telegraph editorial said, "Bob was a good son, a good citizen,
studious, religious, and a wonderful friend to have."
A History of Alton Table of Contents
Where We Live: Alton
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