Lost Markers - The Ames Monument

Albany County, Wyoming

Today there are three interpretive panels set on individual stone bases next to the Ames Monument. Before, a large wood marker installed by the state in the mid-twentieth century stood at this spot. The modern interpretive panels replaced the large wood State marker shortly after it was removed. When I visited the monument in July, 2013 I was “between markers”. Too late to see the State marker and too early to read the interpretive panels. The bases for the interpretive panels were there, but no panels to read. If I got there a year or so earlier, the large wood State marker would have been at the foot of the monument behind the present day interpretive panels.

Marker Information

Name:  The Ames Monument
Type:  State Archives, Museum and Historical Department 4' x 6' wooden sign
Year Erected:  1960's
Location:  Albany County, Wyoming
Location Coordinates:  41.131074, -105.398004

Waymark of the old State marker from waymarking.com

Information on Interpretive Panels from the Historical Markers Database

• Panel 1
• Panel 2
• Panel 3

Marker Inscription:

The Ames Monument

Completed in 1882 at a cost of $65,000, this monolithic, 60-foot high granite pyramid was built by the Union Pacific Railroad Company. It stands on the highest elevation (8,247 feet) of the original transcontinental route. Until 1901, when the railroad was relocated several miles to the south, it passed close by the north side of the monument where once stood the railtown of Sherman.

The monument serves as a memorial to the Ames brothers of Massachusetts. Oakes (1804-1873) and Oliver (1807-1877), whose wealth, influence, talent, and work were key factors in the construction of the first coast to coast railroad in North America. The contribution made by Oakes was especially significant, even though in 1873 he was implicated in a scandal relative to financing the construction of the railroad.

Ames Monument was designed by the distinguished American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1896). Located further west than any of his works, this memorial typifies the Richardsonian style by it energetic, elemental characteristics. His love for native construction materials is demonstrated by the monument's great, rough-hewn granite blocks, quarried from "Reed's Rock" one-half mile west. A Richardson biographer has called the monument "Perhaps the finest memorial in America...one of Richardson's least known and most perfect works." The bas-relief medallions of the Ames brothers were done by the prominent American sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens.


Map showing locations of State marker, 1882 railroad grade, and Reed's Rock

Lost Markers - Magnolia Markers Gone Missing

Mississippi

In 1949 the State of Mississippi started a state historical marker program that is still going strong 68 years later. The state markers were designed as your typical highway or roadside marker with a green background, a silver border, and gold lettering. A magnolia flower, the state flower of Mississippi, set in a silver oval adorns the top of the marker. The design of the state marker, which has become known as the Magnolia marker, has changed little, if any, since state historical marker program began in 1949.

There are over 1,200 Magnolia markers throughout the state. Some of these markers have been stolen, damaged, destroyed, or are simply missing. These missing markers range from those installed in 1949 to some installed just within the last decade and have not been repaired or replaced and may never be. They are now lost markers. If the 17 lost markers accounted for below do not return to their rightful place, this blog post will act as a wake to the memory of these Magnolia markers from yesteryear.

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  Attala County
Founded 1833; named after Chateaubriand's Indian heroine. Buried in county are 1st senator, Gordon Boyd, and 1st representative, Wm. Dodd, who named the county seat after Thaddeus Kosciusko.

Mississippi Historical Commission     1951

Marker in May 2014
Google Street View (©2017 Google Street View), May 2014.

Marker Information

Location: Attala County, south of Kosciusko, at intersection of Highway 19 and Williamsville Road (Geo-Coordinates: 33.030975, -89.577273).

What Happened: It was reported that the marker was destroyed. It happened sometime between May 2014 and January 2016. The marker and the support post were removed.

Photos:

• Marker at original location, view to north toward Yockanookany River bridge

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Lost Markers - Texas County

Houston, Missouri

In 1958 the State Historical Society of Missouri and the State Highway Commission installed a highway marker for Texas County on US Route 63 just south of Houston. This marker was just like the other 121 highway markers that they were installing in each county in the state. The two-sided markers provided an in-depth synopsis of the physical, historical, and cultural features of the subject. They were constructed of cast aluminum alloy with a baked enamel blue finish and gold lettering and the state seal at the top. The Texas County marker was accompanied by a lengthy turnout so locals and travelers could pull off the highway and leisurely read the encyclopedia's worth of information about Texas County as it was in 1958. It stood at this spot for decades as the town of Houston grew around it, but changes were brewing in the 1990's.

In 1995 the County Commission believed that an update was necessary and installed a new marker for Texas County at the county courthouse in Houston. Although the 1995 marker had the same design as the 1958 marker, the Commission made substantial revisions, additions, and deletions to the marker's text to reflect the new Texas County of 1995. These two markers, each providing a snapshot of the county in different eras, coexisted for several years but soon it was thought by some that the outdated needed to be brought to an end.

Lost Markers - New Providence

Providence Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Historical markers occasionally show up in motion pictures and television shows, usually as an innocent bystander. Recently I was watching a movie from 1978 that I’ve seen once or twice, and although I remembered the scene from my previous viewings, I was still surprised to see the prominence of this historical marker for a brief moment in the movie.

The Boys from Brazil was not a particularly successful movie in 1978, but it was subsequently released on home video and occasionally shows up on streaming services such as Netflix. That is how I came across the movie once again. Three-fourths of the way through the movie the camera follows a car driving on the foggy roads of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The end of this particular camera shot was a historical marker alongside the road, and the shot held steady for a few seconds and placed the marker in full-frame. With the pause button now a way of watching movies today, I paused to read the marker:

Quarryville - 3

New Providence

Formerly “Black Horse”

From a Noted Old Tavern Stand

Founded

1730

Lost Markers - Nicholas Senn, M.D.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Historical Society marker for Dr. Nicholas Senn had a short life. The idea of the marker was first conceived in 1958, a marker was installed two years later, and eight years after that the marker was stolen, never to be recovered and never to be replaced. A life of only ten years. The memory of the marker occasionally surfaced when the Nicholas Senn building became a community issue, but that memory has been further buried with the demolition of the building in 2012. Now, this Wisconsin Official Historic Marker, which was similar to the many state markers you find around Wisconsin, may only be remembered when seekers of historical markers ask, “What happened to No. 96 of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Official List of Wisconsin’s State Historic Markers?”

Speaking to the State Medical Society of Wisconsin at their annual meeting on May 5, 1958, incoming president Dr. J.W. Fons proposed a suitable marker at the Nicholas Senn building “so that all who pass by might know the works of one of our great colleagues.” The Society adopted his proposal, and almost exactly two years later on May 4, 1960, Dr. Ulrich Senn (the nephew of Dr. Nicholas Senn) unveiled a Wisconsin state historic marker at the corner of W. Juneau Avenue and N. 3rd Street in Milwaukee.[1] The marker was mounted on the Senn building on the wall facing Juneau Avenue and commemorated Nicholas Senn at the site of his office and laboratory.