Statue of Millard Fillmore

{{Infobox monument|name=Millard Fillmore|caption=The statue in 2019|image=Millard Fillmore by Bryant Baker.jpg|dedicated_to=Millard Fillmore|designer=Bryant Baker|material=Bronze
Granite|height={{Convert|14|ft|6|in|m}}|width={{Convert|5|ft|m}}|length={{Convert|5|ft|m}}|location=Buffalo City Hall, Buffalo, New York, United States|dedicated=July 1, 1932|complete=1930|type=Statue|coordinates={{coord|42|53|10|N|78|52|45|W|type:landmark_region:US-NY|display=title,inline}}}}

Millard Fillmore is a monumental statue in Buffalo, New York, United States. The statue, located outside of Buffalo City Hall, was designed by sculptor Bryant Baker. It honors Millard Fillmore, the 13th president of the United States who lived in Buffalo. It was dedicated on July 1, 1932, in conjunction with a nearby statue of Grover Cleveland, another former president from Buffalo, which was also designed by Bryant Baker.

History

= Background =

Millard Fillmore was born in 1800 in the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York.{{Cite web |last=Watson |first=Stephen T. |date=December 10, 2020 |orig-date=July 19, 2020 |title=A reckoning: Reconsidering Millard Fillmore's legacy |url=https://buffalonews.com/news/local/a-reckoning-reconsidering-millard-fillmores-legacy/article_0050e600-c832-11ea-883a-13b1bc0f917a.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240229123644/https://buffalonews.com/news/local/a-reckoning-reconsidering-millard-fillmores-legacy/article_0050e600-c832-11ea-883a-13b1bc0f917a.html |archive-date=February 29, 2024 |access-date=March 11, 2024 |website=The Buffalo News}} In the 1820s, he moved to the Buffalo metropolitan area and began practicing law. After moving to Buffalo city proper, he began a career in politics, holding positions in the New York State Assembly and the United States Congress, among other offices. In 1849, he became the vice president of the United States under Zachary Taylor and, after Taylor's death in 1850, he became the president. In the 1852 presidential election, the Whig Party decided against nominating Fillmore as their candidate, and as a result, after finishing his term, he returned to Buffalo, where he eventually died in 1874.

As president, Fillmore has a poor or unremarkable reputation amongst the general American public,{{Cite book |last=Headrick |first=Maggie |url=http://archive.org/details/seeingbuffalo00headrich |title=Seeing Buffalo |last2=Ehrlich |first2=Celia |publisher=Ivyhall |year=1978 |page=35}}{{Cite book |last=D'Imperio |first=Chuck |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2nN0DwAAQBAJ |title=Graves of Upstate New York: A Guide to 100 Notable Resting Places |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-8156-5440-7 |edition=2nd |location=Syracuse, New York |page=28}} primarily due to his stance on slavery. Although personally opposed to the institution, as president he signed into law the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 as part of the larger Compromise of 1850, which mandated that escaped slaves in free states be returned to their owners in slave states. However, in Buffalo, Fillmore enjoyed a large amount of public support due to his actions in the community, as he was a founder of the University at Buffalo and was influential in establishing numerous public institutions in the city, such as several museums and libraries.

= Erection =

A public statue honoring Fillmore was part of the original overall plans for the design of Buffalo City Hall.{{Cite book |last=Behnke |first=Alison M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hXU_z5SKwwQC |title=Millard Fillmore |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8225-1495-4 |series=Presidential Leaders |location=Minneapolis |page=102}} Bryant Baker, a world-renowned sculptor based in New York City,{{Cite web |last=Goldman |first=Mary Kunz |date=February 17, 2014 |title=Walking in footsteps of Buffalo presidents |url=https://buffalonews.com/news/local/walking-in-footsteps-of-buffalo-presidents/article_0e9fa8f5-657d-5677-abe5-5132686cbc95.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220514165819/https://buffalonews.com/news/local/walking-in-footsteps-of-buffalo-presidents/article_0e9fa8f5-657d-5677-abe5-5132686cbc95.html |archive-date=May 14, 2022 |access-date=March 11, 2024 |website=The Buffalo News}} designed the statue, as well as a nearby statue of Grover Cleveland, another president from Buffalo.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rhhg9OuCtskC |title=New York: A Guide to the Empire State |publisher=New York State Historical Association |others=Foreword by Herbert H. Lehman |year=1940 |isbn=978-1-62376-031-1 |page=212}} Both of these statues were crafted in 1930 and dedicated at the same time on July 1, 1932.{{Cite web |title=Millard Fillmore, (sculpture). |url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1E10I7B161225.2846&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!19416~!1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240311170233/https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1E10I7B161225.2846&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!19416~!1 |archive-date=March 11, 2024 |access-date=March 11, 2024 |website=Smithsonian Institution Research Information System}} The Fillmore statue was paid for by a $25,000 ({{Inflation|index=US|value=25,000|start_year=1930|r=-3|fmt=eq}}) appropriation from the New York State Legislature.

= Later history =

In 1992, the statue was surveyed as part of the Save Outdoor Sculpture! initiative.

== Calls for removal ==

{{Further|List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests}}

In July 2020, The Spectrum, the student newspaper of the University at Buffalo, published an opinion piece from Professor Robert Silverman of the university's Department of Regional and Urban Planning advocating for the removal of the statue and other public honors to Fillmore.{{Cite web |last=Silverman |first=Robert |date=July 6, 2020 |title=Buffalo and UB need to stop celebrating Millard Filmore, NOW! |url=https://www.ubspectrum.com/article/2020/07/buffalo-and-ub-need-to-stop-celebrating-millard-filmore-now |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706160908/https://www.ubspectrum.com/article/2020/07/buffalo-and-ub-need-to-stop-celebrating-millard-filmore-now |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |access-date=March 11, 2024 |website=The Spectrum}} The opinion piece was published following the Buffalo police shoving incident that occurred near the statue amidst the then-ongoing George Floyd protests and argued that Fillmore's legacy included supporting slave patrols and opposing civil rights for freedmen following the American Civil War. This opinion piece followed a 2015 request from the local NAACP chapter in Buffalo asking the city to cease naming things in honor of Fillmore. In response, in 2020, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown requested the city government to review all of the city's public monuments.

Design

The monument consists of a bronze statue of Fillmore atop a granite pedestal. The statue is roughly {{Convert|9|ft|m}} tall and occupies a square base with side measurements of {{Convert|3|ft|m|abbr=on}}, while the pedestal is {{Convert|5|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} and has length and width measurements of {{Convert|5|ft|m|abbr=on}} each. Fillmore stands wearing a Prince Albert coat and a cloak. The bottom front of the statue's bronze bears the sculptor's marks signature and year ("Bryant Baker 1932"), while the pedestal bears the following inscriptions:

{{Blockquote|text=MILLARD FILLMORE / 1800-1874 / 13th PRESIDENT OF / THE U.S. / LAWYER / EDUCATOR / PHILANTHROPIST / STATESMAN|title=Front}}{{Blockquote|text=E. PLURIBUS UNUM|title=Left}}{{Blockquote|text=Erected by / the State of New York / to honor an illustrious / citizen of Buffalo|title=Rear}}

Additionally, the right side of the pedestal bears the city's seal.

The statue is situated in a triangular plot outside of the city hall, at the southeast corner to the left of the front entrance. The statue of Cleveland is situated in a triangular plot on the other side of the entrance.