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The next time you are walking through Muskingum Park take a good look at the Monument to Westward Expansion and think about how it got there. The trip from near Constitution to the park on May 9, 1938, was only a little easier than the trip made by those that came from New England to settle Marietta in 1788.
Before the statue could become the centerpiece of the park, the 20-ton block of native sandstone had to first be brought from a quarry to the park. The giant block had started off as an 80-ton block at the Holmes quarry at Briggs Station. Look for Briggs Hill Road along Ohio 7 and you will get a general idea where the stone came from. The pylons that are at either end of Muskingum Park were taken from the same area, with the first one being erected in February 1938. The pylons are 14 feet tall and 3 and a half feet square.
Artists led by sculptor Gutzon Borglum worked in the quarry to start shaping the figures on the monument into a rough version of the statue. Samples of the stone were examined by Borglum before carving began. He said that they were "highly satisfactory."
The prework on the statue reduced the stone's weight, but it was still a huge rock to move from the quarry, along the river and across the Muskingum. Workers got an early start with the stone, leaving the quarry at 9 a.m. on a Monday.
We forget that there was not a four-lane Ohio 7 at that time and no Fort Harmar Drive. The statue would have to take a very indirect route to town along River Road. Once it arrived in Marietta it was too tall to pass under the railroad bridge on Virginia Street. The truck, with its 16-wheel trailer and six stone pioneers, would have to take a trip up Harmar Hill first to get around the tracks. Published accounts have it going up Stage Hill, out Watertown Road and down the slope into Westview Addition. Since most of us were not around in 1938, I believe that to be Cole Coffman Road (The Stage family lived at the bottom of the hill at that time) to Lancaster and then down Groves Avenue. I ran that route in high school and can attest to the fact the two hills would be a workout for a 1930 era truck, they certainly were for a 17-year-old version of me.
Once off the hill, the giant block of stone would still have to cross the Muskingum River. There was only one choice in 1938, the Putnam Street Bridge, built after the previous bridge was washed away by the 1913 flood. The giant block of stone would be the second heaviest object ever taken across the bridge.
The truck and the stone, all 36,000 pounds of it, slowly made its way onto the Putnam Street Bridge. It must have been a sight as the roughly carved heads of the statue cleared the top of the bridge by just inches. At 3:20 p.m., more than six hours after starting the trip, the statue finished its journey as it rolled into place. Some of the 52 men from the Works Progress Administration that had helped prepare the stone in Constitution were now on hand to help with getting it ready to move into place. The load was jacked up while resting on wood timbers near the spot where it would end up. The next day it would be moved into place, where the rest of the work would be done on the giant piece.
After completion, President Franklin Roosevelt would dedicate the monument on July 08, 1938. The monument remains the centerpiece of the park today.
Art Smith is online manager, he can be reached at asmith@mariettatimes.com