Maine Monument, Central Park

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Maine Monument Central Park. This photo shows the Maine Monument, located at the Merchant’s Gate entrance to Central Park (Columbus Circle). This monument, conceived in the Beaux Arts style, is a 44-foot limestone pylon, crowned at the top with a gilded bronze sculpture. It was designed by Architect H. Van Buren Magonigle, and completed in 1913. It was commissioned by media magnate William Randolph Hearst to commemorate the controversial sinking of the battleship Maine in 1898. It is crowned at the top with a gilded bronze sculpture of Columbia Triumphant in a seashell chariot pulled by three hippocampi (not shown), sea horses that signifies the United States’ dominance of the seas. At the pylon’s base, surrounding the ship are the mythological figures, Victory, Peace, Courage, Fortitude and Justice.

The story of the battleship Maine is a fascinating one, everything from the controversial design of the vessel and its puzzling sinking (wrongfully attributed to Spanish colonialists in Cuba), to the rabid media propaganda (led by William Randolph Hearst as a way to sell newspapers) that poisoned public opinion and pulled the US into the Spanish-American War. It is a classic case of public misinformation seized upon by greedy media barons to sell newspapers colluding with the machinations of self-aggrandizing political interests.

However, I would dare say that most modern visitors to Central Park’s Maine Monument have little concern about all of that. As can be seen in this photo, it is a highly identifiable landmark where one can hang out and rendezvous with friends.