People in Fitchburg had donated stuff that meant a lot,” Timms said. “What was on exhibit was an exhibition of Fitchburg treasures, the worst exhibit to lose. The loss was a double whammy for the city. The former barn was gutted by a fire most of the collection was destroyed. In 1933 the center made headlines in Boston. Her bequest of $10,000, matched by town funds, was the genesis of the Fitchburg Art Center, Timms said. In addition to creating her own works, the expatriate collected Greek, Roman and decorative arts. Fitchburg has every reason to be proud of her,” Peter Timms, director of the Fitchburg Art Museum, said. Every year she was there, she exhibited in the salons. “She was the first American ever to have an exhibition in the Louvre. The building opened in 1885.Īt the same time, Fitchburg artist Eleanor Norcross (1854-1923) was an established painter in Paris. Papermaker Rodney Wallace donated land and money for a library and art gallery on Main Street. Not everyone could afford to employ an artist, but gradually visual arts became accessible to the general public. According to Susan Roetzer, director of the Fitchburg Historical Society, they could be removed as part of a remodeling project. 1840.” Warner was likely one of several itinerant artists who roamed New England at the time and painted decorative murals for home and business owners. The murals portray Greek urns, steamboats and woodlands. The artwork, created in 1840, was uncovered more than 100 years later by the homeowners who did not know the illustrations were hidden until they removed some deteriorating wallpaper. Painted murals decorate a room in a home on Prichard Street. As far back as the 1700s, prominent citizens commissioned portraits of themselves. The Fitchburg Art Museum was founded in 1929, but visual art was part of Fitchburg long before then. The stainless steel sculpture was funded by local, state and federal grants and private donations. The most recent addition to the cityscape is “Pathways,” by artist Gillian Christy. Coolidge Park boasts a monument to the longest softball game every played, entering Fitchburg into the Guinness Book of World Records, at least for a time, for the 56-hour and 4-minute game played in 1981. Some of the monuments are more light-hearted. Sports figures like Arthur Longsjo, an Olympic athlete, and Pat Moran, a professional baseball player, are honored. Over the years many monuments and public works of art appeared in the city. Another cannon from the veterans section of Forest Hill Cemetery has also disappeared. Originally four cannons were placed around the monument. Residents contributed documents representing the city after the Civil War for a box secured within the monument. Plaques on three sides of the granite base list names of Fitchburg’s dead the number killed by wounds and disease far outnumber those killed in battle. Landscaping, fencing and the addition of cannons completed the park.ĭespite the ornate statues and their massive size, the memorial is very local. The bronze figures were designed by a prominent Boston sculptor, Martin Milmore. The result of the years of planning in Fitchburg is Monument Park, a one-block urban park across the street from the library, opened in 1874.
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