236 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
MARK 
AND 
TWAIN 
ITS S 
MEMORIAL 
E T T I N G 
ACCEPTED MODEL FOR MARK TWAIN MEMORIAL, HANNIBAL, MO. 
Frederick C. Hibbard, Sc. 
Seldom has the selection of the 
site and design for a public memorial 
given more direct and forcible illus- 
tration of the close relation between 
the site and the surroundings and 
between the form and subject of the 
memorial than did the recent compe- 
tition for the monument to Mark 
Twain to be erected at Hannibal, Mo., 
the birthplace of the great humor- 
ist and philosopher. The site select- 
ed is one of the most impressive nat- 
ural situations for a memorial that 
could be found in America, and the 
historic associations of the country 
the memorial will overlook are close- 
ly interwoven with the life of the 
great American commemorated, and 
with the scenes of his works that 
made the Mississippi river life a part 
of our most treasured National liter- 
ature. The memorial is to stand on 
a knoll in Riverview Park on the edge 
of a high bluff overlooking the Mis- 
sissippi, where the broad winding 
current of the river gives a view up 
and down the stream and over into 
Illinois for many miles. Tom Saw- 
yer’s Island and Mark Twain’s cave, 
visible down the river from the big 
bluff overlooking the city of Hanni- 
bal are the scenes of some of the 
most interesting adventures of Tom 
Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. 
The Commission in charge of the 
erection of this monument early rec- 
ognized that a well-placed monument 
forms an integral part of its sur- 
roundings, and preparations were 
made at the start to have the me- 
morial in harmony with its immedi- 
ate environment. While definite rules 
cannot be laid down for the location 
of monuments any more than rules 
can with finality be given for the 
composition of a picture or group of 
sculpture, yet certain fundamental 
principles are to be found that can be 
applied to the locating and designing 
of every monument. A memorial 
should be so placed that it is in prop- 
er relation, both architecturally and 
sculpturally with the spot in which 
it is located. Its commemorative or 
particular character or use should be 
in such harmony with its surround- 
ings that it shall be and remain a 
distinct ornament to the locality in 
which it stands. The commission en- 
gaged a landscape architect of note, 
O. C. Simonds, of Chicago, who is 
also the designer of the park in 
which the monument is placed to plot 
out the location of the memorial for 
the guidance of the competing sculp- 
tors, and the final choice of the de- 
CLOSE VIEW OF MARK TWAIN 
STATUE AND PEDESTAL. 
Frederick C. Hibbard, Sc. 
sign was influenced as much by its 
particular fitness for the locality se- 
lected as by the sculptor’s conception 
of the man to be commemorated. 
The competition for the selection 
of the sculptor was a limited one 
in which some dozen of the lead- 
ing eastern and western sculp- 
tors participated. After the first 
view of the designs the choice was 
narrowed down to three and these 
three were requested to submit re- 
vised models. They were Messrs. 
George T. Brewster and John Gelert, 
of New York and Frederick C. Hib- 
bard, of Chicago. 
Mr. Hibbard’s model was finally 
chosen and the commission given to 
him as has already been noted in 
these pages. The selection of his de- 
sign was due in large degree to the 
fact that his model was made to fit 
PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE MISSISSIPPI, FROM THE SITE OF MARK TWAIN MEMORIAL, SHOWNG FAMOUS SCENES OF Rlj 
1. Site of Monument. 
