J. STERLING MORTON BACK IN NEBRASKA CITY; STATUE TO BE UNVEILED AUGUST 21

Nearly four years after the idea was first presented, a bronze statue of J. Sterling Morton, which had graced the halls of the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington DC for over 80 years, is finally back in Nebraska.

          Created in 1937, the nine-foot, 5,500-pound likeness of the founder of Arbor Day was slated to be replaced in the nation’s capital in 2019 by a bronze of Nebraska author Willa Cather. The outbreak of the COVID pandemic, followed by the attack on the U.S. Capitol in January of 2021, pushed the release of Morton’s statue until now.

          A local committee formed in 2019 to facilitate the logistics of transferring the bronze from Washington DC to Nebraska City. With the help of private donations, organizational support from groups like the Friends of Arbor Lodge Foundation, and matching KENO funds, enough money was raised to complete the project.

          The statue will be housed in the lower-level vestibule of the Morton-James Public Library at 923 1^st Corso. The tile floor had to be reinforced with concrete in preparation for the statue.

With the unveiling of the Willa Cather statue in Washington earlier this summer, J. Sterling Morton was placed in storage in Maryland. Nebraska City natives Jillian Frana and Jeremy Baker volunteered to retrieve the statue and drive him the 18-hour, 1,200-mile, 8-state trip home. Frana and Baker flew east early on Monday, August 14, and were on the road by 1 p.m. that afternoon. They pulled into Nebraska City late Tuesday night and delivered the statue to the library Wednesday morning. It took 90 minutes for a crew from Patriot Crane & Rigging of Omaha, headed by Nebraska City resident Shawn Harker, to maneuver the statue and base into position.

The official unveiling of the J. Sterling Morton bronze statue is scheduled for noon on Monday, August 21, in the lower level of the Morton-James Public Library in Nebraska City. The public is invited.