About the National Statuary Hall
The National Statuary Hall, located in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C., houses 100 marble statues—2 given from each state—of individuals of notable historic importance who most ably reflect and represent the values of their native state. The National Statuary Hall had previously been the main chamber for the U.S. House of Representatives up until its current chamber was erected in the mid-nineteenth century. Following this move, there was much debate as to what would be the fate of the vacant chamber.

"To what end more useful or grand, and at the same time simple and inexpensive, can we devote it [the Chamber] than to ordain that it shall be set apart for the reception of such statuary as each State shall elect to be deserving of in this lasting commemoration?"

~Representative Justin S. Morrill (R-Vermont)
April 19, 1864

Morrill’s proposal would be set into law shortly thereafter and the chamber came to be what we know it as today. In the meantime, it was ultimately up to the discretion of each state to decide what two figures would be memorialized and marbleized within.

In 1886, the Ohio General Assembly chose native James A. Garfield, the president of the United States whom had been assassinated only five years prior, as its first statue recipient.

The second, chosen the following year in 1887 was William Allen, a former Ohio governor. Allen, who died in 1879, was an anti-war Democrat opposed to Lincoln’s emancipation of the slaves. More than a century later, Ohio’s 126th General Assembly came to the conclusion that Allen’s statue would be replaced.