Confederate Monument in Murray

Confederate Monument in Murray
Location Jct. of KY 94 and Ky 121, Murray, Kentucky
Coordinates 36°36′36″N 88°18′18″W / 36.61000°N 88.30500°WCoordinates: 36°36′36″N 88°18′18″W / 36.61000°N 88.30500°W
Built 1917
Architect Mcneil Marble Co., Marietta, GA
Architectural style No Style Listed
Governing body Local
MPS Civil War Monuments of Kentucky MPS
NRHP Reference #

97000711

[1]
Added to NRHP July 17, 1997

The Confederate Monument in Murray is a historic statue located in the northeast corner of the Calloway County Courthouse in Murray, Kentucky.[2]

The fountain was funded after three years by the J. N. Williams Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1917, whose chairman died during that period; her name was placed upon the monument in tribute. The U.D.C. paid $2,500 to Marietta, Georgia's McNeel Monument Company for the monument.[2][3]

The 16.5-foot-tall (5.0 m) monument has three parts. The bottom is a porcelain drinking fountain; when it was a working fountain, a step pedal was used to obtain water. It was by far the most elaborate and modern of the Civil War fountain monuments.[4] (The other three fountains are the Confederate Memorial in Mayfield, Confederate Memorial Fountain in Hopkinsville, and the Confederate Monument of Cadiz.) Four 6-foot-tall (1.8 m) Doric columns support a granite canopy. Inside the canopy is an ornate iron light fixture with four incandescent bulbs to light the fountain. On top are four marble balls and a 5.5-foot-tall (1.7 m) marble statue of Robert E. Lee, making it the only monument in Kentucky that heavily features Robert E. Lee;[4] the only other monument in Kentucky with a likeness of Lee is Bardstown, Kentucky's Confederate Monument of Bardstown which has only a small relief portrait of Lee below the large statue of a Confederate soldier.[2][4]

During the war, Murray/Calloway County saw 800 of its citizens serve in the Confederate Army, as opposed to 200 who served in the Union Army.[2]

On July 17, 1997, the Confederate Monument in Murray was one of sixty-one different monuments related to the Civil War in Kentucky placed on the National Register of Historic Places, as part of the Civil War Monuments of Kentucky Multiple Property Submission.[5]

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Murray, Ky. Trailsrus.com, Accessed November 12, 2008
  3. ↑ Brent, Joseph. Confederate Monument in Murray NRHP Nomination Form (Kentucky Heritage Council, 1997) p.1
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Brent p.1
  5. ↑ Joseph E. Brent (January 8, 1997). National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Submission: Civil War Monuments in Kentucky, 1865-1935 (pdf). National Park Service.