John Ericsson National Memorial

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John Ericsson National Memorial
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
John Ericsson National Memorial
Location Washington, D.C., USA
Coordinates 38°53′12″N 77°3′1″W / 38.88667, -77.05028
Established August 31, 1916
Governing body National Park Service

John Ericsson National Memorial, located at Ohio Drive and Independence Avenue, SW, in Washington, D.C., is dedicated to the man who revolutionized naval history with his invention of the screw propeller. The Swedish engineer John Ericsson was also the designer of the USS Monitor, the ship that ensured Union naval supremacy during the American Civil War.

The national memorial was authorized by Congress on August 31, 1916 and dedicated on May 29, 1926. Congress appropriated $35,000 for the creation of the memorial, and Americans chiefly of Scandinavian descent raised an additional $25,000. Constructed on a site near the Lincoln Memorial between September 1926 and April 1927, the pink Milford granite memorial is 20 feet high with a 150-foot diameter base.

Sculpted by James Earle Fraser, it features a seated figure of Ericsson 6 feet 5 inches high, and three standing figures representing "adventure", "labor", and "vision." The national memorial is managed by National Mall and Memorial Parks.

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