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Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
FORM C − OBJECT
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Photograph
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
49/3 Boston
North
AC,
AG,B
902
Town: Lexington
Place (neighborhood or village): Lexington Green
Address or Location: Mass. Ave. & Bedford St.
Name: Minute Man Statue
Ownership: __x__ Public ____ Private
Type of Object (check one):
_x__ statue
___ bust
___ group composition
___ religious shrine
___ monument
___ milestone
___ marker
___ boundary marker
___other (specify)
Date of Construction: 1899
Source: on statue
Designer/Sculptor: Henry H. Kitson
Materials: bronze, fieldstone
Alterations (with dates):
(date?) - ceased being used as a fountain
Condition: good
Moved: _x_ no ___ yes Date
Acreage: 2.54 acres (entire green)
Setting: southeast corner of the Green
Recorded by: Lisa Mausolf
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month / year): Sept. 2009
INVENTORY FORM C CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON MASS AVE.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
B 902
___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
DESIGN ASSESSMENT
Describe the design features of the object and evaluate in terms of other similar types of objects within the community.
Located at the southeast corner of the Battle Green, facing the route of the British advance, Henry Hudson Kitson’s Minute Man
Statue is a life-size bronze figure of a colonial farmer (an idolized Captain John Parker) carrying his musket with one foot slightly
advanced. The statue is set on a high base of rough fieldstones. No longer a working fountain, the former basin now serves as
a planter. On the rear is a smaller basin, above which the bronze plaque is mounted.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Explain the history of the object and how it relates to the development of the community.
In 1898 the town accepted a bequest of $10,000 from Francis B. Hayes for a drinking fountain/watering place for men, horses,
cattle and dogs. A contract was made with Boston sculptor Henry H. Kitson (c.1863-1947) on August 4, 1898. The man atop
the fieldstone base was supposed to depict Capt. Parker. Medford resident Arthur Mather, among others, served as a model for
the sculptor. The native fieldstone base was symbolic of the sturdiness of our ancestors. The fountain was unveiled on April
19, 1900, the 125th anniversary of the battle. The total cost was $10,853. In 1989 a traffic island was established next to the
statue to allow tourists a safe place to take photos.
Among Kitson’s other works are the Roger Conant Statue in Salem (1911); the Woburn Spanish American War Statue (1934)
and the Pilgrim Maiden at Plymouth (1924).
ENTIRE INSCRIPTION (if applicable):
(back of monument on bronze plaque:)
THE BEQUEST
OF
FRANCIS BROWN HAYES
TO
THE TOWN OF LEXINGTON
ERECTED 1899
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington from its first settlement to 1868 (Revised and Continued to 1912 by the
Lexington Historical Society). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913, vol. 2, p. 544.
Kollen, Richard. Lexington: From Liberty’s Birthplace to Progressive Suburb. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004.
INVENTORY FORM C CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON MASS AVE.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
B 902