Image: The Eagle, Roscoe Conkling Park, Utica, New York - 20210917

Description: Seen in September 2021 is this arguably best-known piece of public art in Utica, standing on a high ridge at Roscoe Conkling Park boasting a commanding view over the city skyline: The Eagle, a six-foot bronze statue of the titular bird sculpted in 1923 by noted artist Charles Keck. A pair of bronze plaques embedded in the marble pedestal relate that the monument was dedicated in memory of prominent hotelier, industrialist and politico Thomas Redfield Proctor (1844-1920), describe Proctor as "an incorruptible citizen and a pure patriot" who, "if asked what he wished in reward for any good public deed... answered 'I want nothing'", and relate the incident in his life that inspired the statue: gifted a caged bald eagle one Fourth of July, he ascended to the roof on Bagg's Hotel, which he owned, and freed the bird. Proctor, too, died on the Fourth of July "and went the way the bird did, seeking his native element and the true father of his country". Another plaque on a different face of the pedestal quotes from the Book of Ecclesiasticus: "And some there be, which have no memorial; who are perished, as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them... their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore."
Title: The Eagle, Roscoe Conkling Park, Utica, New York - 20210917
Credit: Own work
Author: Andre Carrotflower
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Attribution Required?: Yes