3-foot tall bust of Governor Bagley found after 93 years in storage

https://www.freep.com/story/entertai...ia/3988409002/

-The handsome depiction of Bagley was completed by 19th Century American sculptor Carl Herman Wehner in 1889.

-The monument to Bagley once prominently overlooked Campus Martius just south from the old Detroit Opera House, in front of the Merrill Fountain

-Was removed in 1926 for the widening of Woodward and has been in storage by the Detroit Institute of Arts ever since

-John J. Bagley was a member of the Detroit Common Council and was governor of Michigan from 1873-1877

Put it on the Riverwalk.

And at 3 feet, he was most def the shortest governor in Michigan history. Even Cap'n Bob-lo could look down on him.

He was taller in his photos.

Great work by Dan Austin from HistoricDetroit.org on finding this!

https://www.historicdetroit.org/buil...-j-bagley-bust

I wonder if someone will determined that it needs to be defaced or torn down?

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Originally Posted by Zacha341

I wonder if someone will determined that it needs to be defaced or torn down?

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I wonder that too... at only 3 ft. high. Maybe they better find a higher traffic area to display him. Assuming that the pedestal he was on is gone... a replacement pedestal could probably easily be found in a stone funerary monument catalog. It would have to be of sufficient weight and height to prevent theft [[assuming the bust is anchored).

I would think that this little statue would be overpowered in the vastness of Grand Central Park. A better spot might be Campus Martius, Capitol Park, or at the end of one of the traffic islands [[like the Alexander Macomb statue is situated) on the boulevard'ed section of Washington Blvd.

But speaking of GCP... I wouldn't mind if the Revolutionary War hero [[Bicentennial gift from Poland) Thaddeus Kosciuzsko... his odd roadside statue location along Michigan Ave... could be relocated to GCP.

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Originally Posted by Gistok

But speaking of GCP... I wouldn't mind if the Revolutionary War hero [[Bicentennial gift from Poland) Thaddeus Kosciuzsko... his odd roadside statue location along Michigan Ave... could be relocated to GCP.

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That's such a cool statue, in such a bad location

Washington and Michigan is a pretty significant location as our street grid goes. We can't put everybody at Woodward and Adams.

1953

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gistok

I wonder that too... at only 3 ft. high. Maybe they better find a higher traffic area to display him. Assuming that the pedestal he was on is gone... a replacement pedestal could probably easily be found in a stone funerary monument catalog. It would have to be of sufficient weight and height to prevent theft [[assuming the bust is anchored).

I would think that this little statue would be overpowered in the vastness of Grand Central Park. A better spot might be Campus Martius, Capitol Park, or at the end of one of the traffic islands [[like the Alexander Macomb statue is situated) on the boulevard'ed section of Washington Blvd.

But speaking of GCP... I wouldn't mind if the Revolutionary War hero [[Bicentennial gift from Poland) Thaddeus Kosciuzsko... his odd roadside statue location along Michigan Ave... could be relocated to GCP.

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I used to walk from downtown to Tiger Stadium on nice days. Always waived to General Thaddeus, the half-way point, and he always waived back.

Yeah moving Kosciuzsko across from his Polish compatriot Casimir Pulaski would make sense. EDIT: I was looking at the wrong street. Alexander Macomb's statue is opposite of Pulaski. There's still room in other sections of the median there!

Speaking of moving statuary... I was just reading about Water Works Park, and how beautiful the 110 acre facility was... with a floral clock, picnic areas, a 185 ft. tall water tower with observation deck, and the 50ft. tall 1894 built Hurlbut Memorial Gate... at the entranceway to the park.

Chauncey Hurbut was the Commissioner of Water Works for the city for many years, and when he died in 1885, he left the bulk of his money to his wife [[who died a year later) and what was left over to the Water Works Commission to build a memorial for Water Works Park. Well as is often the case, distant relatives came out of the woodwork claiming in a lawsuit that a memorial gate to the park was an extravagant waste of money. Well the heirs lost, and by 1894 the sum of money grew to $213,000, a lot of money at that time.

Unfortunately the fancy Beaux Arts gate to the park [[which closed during WWII, and closed permanently in 1951), is all that is left of Water Works Park. It is a pity that the beautiful horseshoe staircase on the inside part of the park has never been seen by people in 70 years. It's too bad that the gate cannot be moved to a more prominent spot that would allow it to be seen from all sides.

Well I was looking at a picture of NYC Columbus Circle, a traffic circle at the SW end of Central Park... and I thought that Detroit should turn the clusterfuck interchange of Jefferson/E. Grand Blvd. and entrance to Belle Isle into a traffic circle, and put the gate on a rise in the middle of the traffic circle, with the horseshoe staircase facing the MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle [[facing the floral clock across the bridge).

It would be a show stopper for showing off one of Detroit's historic treasures that gets no respect or much notice as a fence ornament, when people are whizzing by along Jefferson Ave. And it would be awesome entrance "bling" to an awesome island park [[especially floodlit at night). ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gistok

Speaking of moving statuary... I was just reading about Water Works Park, and how beautiful the 110 acre facility was... with a floral clock, picnic areas, a 185 ft. tall water tower with observation deck, and the 50ft. tall 1894 built Hurlbut Memorial Gate... at the entranceway to the park.

Chauncey Hurbut was the Commissioner of Water Works for the city for many years, and when he died in 1885, he left the bulk of his money to his wife [[who died a year later) and what was left over to the Water Works Commission to build a memorial for Water Works Park. Well as is often the case, distant relatives came out of the woodwork claiming in a lawsuit that a memorial gate to the park was an extravagant waste of money. Well the heirs lost, and by 1894 the sum of money grew to $213,000, a lot of money at that time.

Unfortunately the fancy Beaux Arts gate to the park [[which closed during WWII, and closed permanently in 1951), is all that is left of Water Works Park. It is a pity that the beautiful horseshoe staircase on the inside part of the park has never been seen by people in 70 years. It's too bad that the gate cannot be moved to a more prominent spot that would allow it to be seen from all sides.

Well I was looking at a picture of NYC Columbus Circle, a traffic circle at the SW end of Central Park... and I thought that Detroit should turn the clusterfuck interchange of Jefferson/E. Grand Blvd. and entrance to Belle Isle into a traffic circle, and put the gate on a rise in the middle of the traffic circle, with the horseshoe staircase facing the MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle [[facing the floral clock across the bridge).

It would be a show stopper for showing off one of Detroit's historic treasures that gets no respect or much notice as a fence ornament, when people are whizzing by along Jefferson Ave. And it would be awesome entrance "bling" to an awesome island park. ;)

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Love it! I thought it would be nice to move to either Gabriel Richard or Erma Henderson parks to give those spaces a little more pizazz but Jefferson would be rather cool and impactful.

“Was removed in 1926 for the widening of Woodward and has been in storage by the Detroit Institute of Arts ever since”

If things can go unseen in that warehouse for 93 years, then maybe they should look around in there for Jimmy Hoffa’s remains. And also look for that long lost Detroit Lions Super Bowl trophy!!

Attachment 39099

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Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

“Was removed in 1926 for the widening of Woodward and has been in storage by the Detroit Institute of Arts ever since”

If things can go unseen in that warehouse for 93 years, then maybe they should look around in there for Jimmy Hoffa’s remains. And also look for that long lost Detroit Lions Super Bowl trophy!!

Attachment 39099

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The creepiest thing about that photo is that Google can't find it on line, which means ... :eek:

Yargh! I would not even want to download that!

Google may be tracking such activities! --:eek::eek::eek:--

Any way to use the Hurlbut Memorial would be great, in my opinion.

Back the Bagley bust, why not put it near his memorial fountain in Cadillac Square? That seems like the logical place to me.

Going to put a link to a relevant Detroit Yes thread here:

https://www.detroityes.com/mb/showth...-History-Books

I just now started reading "Hidden Detroit" by Amy Elliott Bragg
and the acknowledgement credits page lists, among others,
"Dan Austin, for recruiting me into service, for sharing priceless
finds, for believing in my blog early on and for eagle eyed editing."

I'm not a fan of moving monuments. I'm still unhappy about how the soldiers and sailors monument was moved. A traffic circle there sounds like a good idea though, problem is Americans are really stupid when it comes to that sort of thing.

And make sure he never uttered any words that might even remotely offend someone a century later. Hate to go through all that work only to have to take it back down.

It's good that Dan Austin helped "rediscover" this, but he didn't "find" it. The DIA knew where it was all along.