Samuel J. Tilden
Artist: Partridge, William Ordway, 1861-1930, sculptor
With: Wilder & White, architect
Status: In Situ and Within Riverside Park
Title: Samuel J. Tilden
Dates: 1917. Dedicated October 5, 1926
Medium: Sculpture: bronze; Base: Stoney Creek granite, speckled pink, white, and black.
Dimensions: Sculpture: approx. 75 x 49 x 46 in.; Base: approx. 135 x 78 x 69 in. 20’h x 40″w x 20″d
Inscription: SAMUEL J. TILDEN / 1814-1886 / PATRIOT-STATESMAN / LAWYER-PHILANTHROPIST / GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK / DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE / FOR THE / PRESIDENCY / 1876 / “I TRUST THE PEOPLE”
Description: Tilden is depicted standing next to a table. His proper left foot is slightly forward, his left hand rests on the table on which there is a copy of the U. S. Constitution. The table has a relief of a hatchet encircled by a laurel wreath on the front. A relief of a two-handled urn with a well-worn face appears on the back of the table.
Owner: City of New York, Department of Parks and Recreation, New York, New York.
Located Riverside Park, Riverside Drive & West 112th Street, New York, New York.
Donor: Trustees of Tilden Estate
Remarks: Wilder & White created the base of the sculpture. The monument was given to the City of New York by the Executors of the Samuel J. Tilden Estate. Tilden set aside 50,000 dollars for commemorative statues of himself for New York City and his boyhood home in New Lebanon. A lawsuit brought about by the executors of Tilden’s will and a disagreement over the proper site for the statue caused a delay in the unveiling of the statue. The statue was dedicated forty years after Tilden’s death. Tilden was a governor of New York, a presidential nominee, and a corporation lawyer. He also contributed toward the creation of the New York Public Library with a six million dollar bequest. Tilden became famous for prosecuting the Tweed Ring and the Upstate Canal Ring.
References:
Gayle, Margot & Michele Cohen, “Guide to Manhattan’s Outdoor Sculpture,” New York: Prentice Hall, 1988, pg. 288.
Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York, New York survey, 1993
National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, NY5131, 1989
Michele H. Bogart, “The Ordinary Hero Monument in Greater New York, Samuel J. Tilden’s Memorial and the Politics of Place,” Journal of Urban History, vol. 28, no. 3 (March 2002), pg. 267-299.