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Who Should Stand For Ohio?
Every state sends two U.S. senators to Washington, but few people realize that every state also sends two representatives to National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. Since the 1880s, statues of James Garfield and William Allen have served as Ohio’s two representatives in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.
Legislation was enacted in 2006 creating the National Statuary Collection Study Committee and to set up a process to replace Allen's statue for his pro-slavery views. The committee, comprised of members of the Ohio House and Senate, held numerous hearings to gather input. In February, the committee narrowed a list of more than 90 nominees to 10 finalists and asked the Ohio Historical Society, Cincinnati Museum Center and Western Reserve Historical Society to conduct a public vote at 36 historic sites and museums statewide.
And The Winner Is…
Per the charge of the National Statuary Collection Study Committee, the Ohio Historical Society has finalized the public vote of Ohioans for their choice to replace the statue of William Allen in the National Statuary Hall Collection. On behalf of Ohio Historical Society Executive Director Burt Logan, we thank you for the opportunity to engage the public in this educational activity. We are delighted that nearly 50,000 Ohioans of all ages participated in this effort. The final results (48,736 votes) are listed below:
| Nominee |
Adults |
Students |
Total |
Percentage |
| Thomas A. Edison |
9,329 |
5,504 |
14,833 |
30.4% |
| Wright Brothers |
6,463 |
7,352 |
13,815 |
28.3% |
| Jesse Owens |
2,101 |
2,931 |
5,032 |
10.3% |
| William M. McCulloch |
3,329 |
522 |
3,851 |
7.9% |
| Ulysses S. Grant |
1,234 |
1,853 |
3,087 |
6.3% |
| Harriet Taylor Upton |
1,675 |
912 |
2,587 |
5.3% |
| Harriet Beecher Stowe |
1,030 |
1,300 |
2,330 |
4.8% |
| Judith A. Resnik |
453 |
1,035 |
1,488 |
3.1% |
| Albert B. Sabin |
522 |
676 |
1,198 |
2.5% |
| James Mitchell Ashley |
46 |
469 |
515 |
1.1% |
Next Steps
The National Statuary Collection Study Committee met August 26 and voted unanimously to recommend Thomas A. Edison. The Ohio General Assembly is expected to formally endorse this decision later this year.
Once the General Assembly has taken action and private funds have been raised, the new statute will join the statue of President James Garfield as Ohio representatives in Statuary Hall. The Ohio Statuary Hall Commission was established to raise the private funding necessary to commission the new statue to send to Washington and make arrangements for bringing Governor Allen’s statue home to Ohio.
In the meantime, please direct any questions about voting to ohiostatue@ohiohistory.org. For questions related to the National Statuary Collection Study Committee, please contact Sen. Mark Wagoner, chairman, at SD02@senate.state.oh.us or by calling (614) 466-8060.
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