Beware of the Rug: If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 456

Thursday, June 18, 2020

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 456

Memorial to the “Start Westward of the United States,” Marietta, Ohio
Sculpture by Gutzon Borglum

Each time I have visited Marietta I have not only walked through the Mound and Oak Grove cemeteries but also walked to Marietta College, where Q taught physics, and along the riverside park. This statue is one that I have seen and taken photos of several times but had never taken the time to check out its history. Marietta is filled with history. Many of the older homes have plaques telling about the original owners and the date the house was built. The various mounds are identified with plaques also. There was a brickwork company here and many of the streets are still paved with red brick.

The unused postcard has a photo by Jayne DeLancey and was issued by Dianne Wehrs Vessa, Inc. The statue is titled “Start Westward of the United States” and was sculpted from native sandstone by Gutzon Borglum who also made the Mount Rushmore Monument.

Some of the following historical information has been condensed and paraphrased from the Marietta Masonic Bodies website (see below). Originally President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated Start Westward monument in 1938 as part of the Sesquicentennial founding of Marietta in 1788. It was rededicated in July 1988 at the closing ceremonies of Marietta’s Bicentennial celebration to the Pioneer Caravan and in memory of Edwin “Zeke” Pugh (1917-1988) who was a member of the 1937-1938 Caravan and Leader of the 1987-1988 Bicentennial Trekkers.

Following the end of the Revolutionary War the Northwest Territory was open to veterans for settlement. Both the Mound and Oak Grove cemeteries have Revolutionary War dead graves marked. The statue features a group of revolutionary and pioneer figures and represents the start of the American Government west of the original 13 states. At the re-dedication the Marietta Kiwanis Club added flags of the six states, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and the northeastern part of Minnesota, which were formed from the Northwest Territory with the National Flag in the center. The Kiwanis also provided permanent illumination of the flags.

The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest, was formed after the Revolutionary War. The region was ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Paris of 1783. Marietta received the first settlers in 1787 and Ohio became a state in 1803. The area was a vast wilderness populated by Indians and a handful of French colonial settlements when the first settlers arrived. By 1803 there were dozens of towns and settlements in Ohio.