Major Bibliographical References (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Previous documentation on file (NPS): Primary location of additional data: - preliminary determination of individual listing (36 X State Historic Preservation Office CFR 67) has been requested _Other State agency _ previously listed in the National Register _ Federal agency _ previously determined eligible by the National Register -Loal govemment _ designated a National Historic Landmark Other _ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repository: # Massachusetts Historical Commission _ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial Name of Property 10.
Geographical Data Acreage of Property 1.5 acres Essex County, MA County and State UTM References (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 1.19 362900 4718660 Zone Easting Northing "Zone Easting Northing Zone 4. Zone 3. Easting Easting _See continuation sheet Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11.
Form Prepared By name/title_Betsy Friedberg, NR Director, MHC, with Barbara Erkkila, Gloucester Historical Commission organization_Massachusetts Historical Commission date_January 1996 street & number_220 Morrissey Boulevard telephone (617) 727-8470 city or town_Boston _ state_Massachusetts _ zip code_02125 Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: Continuation Sheets Northing Northing A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location. A sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Photographs Representative black and white photographs of the property.
Additional items (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items) Property Owner (Complete this item at the request of the SHPO or FPO.) name City of Gloucester street & number telephone city or town state zip code Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.). Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimatedto average 18.1 hours per response including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form.
Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.0. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503 (0P8 Form 10000a OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interlor National Park Service Natlonal Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial Gloucester (Essex County) Section number 1 Massachusetts Page 7. DESCRIPTION The Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial occupies a prominent location on the south side of Stacy Boulevard at the edge of Gloucester Harbor. The memorial is situated in the center of the long, narrow 1.5 acre Stacy Esplanade. A concrete walkway with inserts of grass and benches for seating exists on either side.
The memorial consists of an eight-foot-tall statue of a man atop a granite base. It is the work of the English sculptor Leonard F. Craske (1882- 1950) and was cast by the Gorham Company of Providence, Rhode Island, in 1925. The statue is a naturalistically rendered figure of a fisherman clad in oilskins standing braced at the wheel on the sloping deck of his ship. It is sited so that the fisherman, grasping the ship's wheel, looks intently out to sea, over the harbor. Cast in bronze, the statue has lost its original patina almost completely and is now covered with a thin layer of green corrosion, with islands of black-brown corrosion. The spokes of the wheel and bronze deck are worn smooth from handling and climbing, as the statue is only minimally removed from the public by a low chain fence. The fisherman's figure rises above a green granite base weighing a half ton.
A panel, slightly recessed, on the front (harbor, or south) side of the base, is designed with a frame of rock- faced granite to match the block. It holds an inscription taken from the 107th Psalm: THEY THATGO DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS -. . 1623 - 1923 The inscription is in three-inch-high bronze letters, while the panel background is hand worked with an 8-cut bushing hammer. On the north, street side, a horizontal panel reads: "MEMORIAL TO THE GLOUCESTER FISHERMAN, August 23, 1923." The area around the statue's base was originally grassed over, but recently, after years of wear by tourists and local residents alike, it has been paved. Some 1,800 antique granite blocks form a twenty-course circle around the statue, extending sixty feet in diameter.
Fifteen sections of granite form a continuous low bench encircling the statue base, while sixteen black iron stanchions resembling anchor shafts support an iron chain railing and separate the (continued) (p8 Fom 100000 Unlted States Department of the Interlor Natlonal Park Service Natlonal Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial Section number 7, 8 Page 2,1 - Gloucester (Essex County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 memorial somewhat from public access. Discreet signage requests that the public keep off the monument. Archaeological Description While no prehistoric sites are currently recorded on the property, it is possible that sites are present. One prehistoric site is recorded in the general area (within one mile).
The physical characteristics of the property and the surrounding area, a level to moderately sloping terrace bordering Gloucester Harbor indicate locational criteria favorable for prehistoric site locations. In general, however, the small size of the parcel (less than one acre) and construction of Stacy Boulevard, the seawall and paved area around the statue base indicates a low potential for either prehistoric or historic survivals. (end of Section 7) 8. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial was installed in 1925 to celebrate the lives of the more than 10,000 men lost at sea in the first three centuries of Gloucester's history. It is an important symbol of the city's maritime heritage and perhaps the city's most important work of public art.
The Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, and meets Criteria A and C of the National Register on the local and state levels. Gloucester's population has always had close associations with the sea. While many Gloucester residents have earned their livelihood from the ocean, many, too, have lost their lives to it. In one disastrous year--1879--249 fishermen and twenty-nine vessels were lost. A memorial statue commemorating these losses was proposed as early as 1906, by Annisquam artist Eric Pape. In June 1909, Gloucester held its first fisherman's memorial service. It was conducted at the Blynman Bridge, only a half mile from the site of the present statue.
During an August 1912 ceremony, Mary Brooks' song "Scatter Flowers on the Waves" was sung, and the Girl Scouts tossed wreaths and bouquets on the outgoing tide, a custom now observed every Memorial Day at the Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial. The statue is the work of Leonard F. Craske, who in 1923 won a competition sponsored by the Gloucester Tercentenary Permanent Memorial Association. Craske was born in a London suburb in 1882 and was educated at London University. He later became a student of (continued) (P8 Form 10-000-g OMB Approver No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interlor National Park Service Natlonal Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial Gloucester (Essex County) Section number 8 2 Massachusettsp Page - anatomy at St. Thomas Hospital, London. He studied art and sculpture under Paul R.
Montford and drawing under Sir Francis Dicksee. While an assistant to Montford, Craske exhibited at the Royal Academy. In his youth, Craske worked as an actor as well as an artist. He first came to the United States with a traveling acting troupe, arriving in Boston in 1914. He appeared with the English Company at the Copley Theater in Boston during the First World War before turning his attention to sculpture and photography. He soon joined other artists summering on Cape Ann, and he became a member of the Gloucester Society of Artists at Eastern Point. Throughout his career in New England, he maintained studios both on St. Botolph Street in Boston and on Gloucester's Rocky Neck. In preparing for the competition to secure the commission for the Fisherman's Memorial, Craske spent many hours aboard fishing schooners.
Craske sketched and photographed while on board, and working fishermen later posed for the sculptor. His model was approved August 17, 1922. The Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial is generally acknowledged as Craske's finest work. Other examples of his artistry include: war memorials in Lawrence and Amesbury; the bronze placque in Cambridge marking the location of the Washington Elm, the site where General Washington took command of the Continental Army; The Joy of Life, a cupid-like figure at the Kaufman Estate in Peterborough, New Hampshire; a portrait bust of Gloucester hero Howard Blackburn; and the model for a proposed, but never executed, statue honoring The Fisherman's Wife. Stacy Boulevard, originally Western Parkway, was reworked in the 1920s as part of a civic improvements movement. Parks Commissioner George O.
Stacy was responsible for the construction of a scenic boulevard overlooking the harbor; in order to create the broad boulevard, a dozen buildings were relocated and a new seawall constructed. Upon its completion, and with the death of the commissioner shortly thereafter, the roadway was renamed Stacy Boulevard. The Fisherman's Memorial was unveiled August 22, 1925, but backdated on its base to 1923 in order to associate it with the tercentenary of the city's settlement. The cost of the statue was $10,000, with $5,000 provided by the city and the remaining $5,000 by public subscription. The granite base contains a sealed time capsule containing forty-three items, including books, papers, stamps, and coins. (continued) IPSForm10-000- OMB Approvel No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Natlonal Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial Gloucester (Essex County) Section number 8, 9, 1°page. 3,1, 1 - Massachusetts Featured on picture postcards and calendars, as well as boxes of frozen fish, the Gloucester vays trcome Giourial is s synedly chousands of visilors ansully. The statue has in many vavs become Gloucester's (end of Section 8) 9. MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES The Boston Globe, August 30, 1950, Leonard Craske dies. Cape Ann Historical Association: Art Scrapbooks #12, Leonard Craske, also foundry report dated 1927.
Gloucester Daily Times: January 8, 1906, statue proposed; June 13, 1909, memorial service; August 18, 1912, special music; August 17, 1922, Craske model approved; April 23, 1923, Dedication; Preparation of the site, cornerstone, actual raising of statue, August 13, 20, 22, 23, 1925; October 18, 1954, Erkkila: Stacy Boulevard; September 17, 1960. Bollmon article; August 11, 1973, Louis Blend, photographer; Blend retires, July 1, 1974; August 31, 1974, Erkkila: Paving around the statue; June 16, 1975, Blend dies; April 14, 1983, Erkkila: First Man at the Wheel; May 25, 1983, Erkkila: Statue design and story. Thomas, Gordon: Fast and Able, p. 145, Schooner REX. (end of Section 9) 10. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA Verbal Boundary Description The Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial is situated on lot #72 on the City of Gloucester Assessor's sheets #2 and #3.
Boundary Justification The entire lot is that historically associated with the nominated memorial. (end of Section 10) N9S Form 10000a Unlted States Department of the Interior National Park Service Natlonal Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet Sectlon number Page OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 STATUE Slsuccater Feahermano Ypenorial H SIDE WALK TO LYNMANE BRIDGI UTeE - TRAFFIC WEST GRANITE PAVED OGelss EAST SIDE IVALK STACY BOULEVARD -SIDE YrALK- ARIA OPEr )a WALK WAY SEA WALL" OPEN AKEA WALKWAY 7SEAWALT Arfae HAR GLOUCESTER, MASS. 6-10-94 NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Page. - SUPPLEMENTARY LISTING RECORD NRIS Reference Number: Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial Property Name: 96000473 Date Listed: 5/7/96 Essex County: MA State: OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 Multiple Name This property is listed in the National Register of Historic Places in accordance with the attached nomination documentation subject to the following exceptions, exclusions, notwithstanding the National Park Service certification included Pateik Andeus Signature of the Keeper 5/31/96 Date of Action Amended Items in Nomination: The Period of Significance for this property is amended to begin in 1925 (the year that the monument was constructed), rather thar 1923 as noted in the nomination form. The form is also amended to check Criteria Consideration F since this is a commemorative property.
DISTRIBUTION: National Register property file Nominating Authority (without nomination attachment) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY NAME: Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial MULTIPLE NAME: Gloucester MPS STATE & COUNTY : DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: MASSACHUSETTS, Essex 3/25/96 4/25/96 DATE OF PENDING LIST: 4/09/96 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 5/09/96 REFERENCE NUMBER: 96000473 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N REQUEST: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: N PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: SAMPLE: V SLR DRAFT: Y NATIONAL COMMENT WAIVER: N ACCEPT RETURN REJECT DATE ABSTRACT/ SUMMARY COMMENTS: Historially siqnificant pubte wore of aut commemorsting Gloucesteis maritime history RECOM.
/CRITERIA Accept A REVIEWER Patuck Andsus TELEPHONE DISCIPLINE Histcriar DATE 5/7/96 DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/NTsee attached SIR X/I THEY THAT GO DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS 1623 ESSIONAL Kodak PROFESSIONAL PAPER - PAPIER - PAPEL Kodak SPROFESSIONAL PAPER - PAP HER - PAPEL Kodak PAPEI SSIONAL PAPEL ESSIONAL - PAPEL Kodak PROFESSIONAL PAPER - PAPIER - PAPE KoG Kodak PROFESSIONAL PAPER - PAPIER - PAPEL Koda PAPER - TONAL "APEL Kodak PROFESSIONAL R - PAPIER - PAPEL Kodak PROFESSIONAL PAPER - PAP - PAPEL Kodak PAPER Kodak PROFESSIONAL - PAPIER - PAPEL Kodak PROFESSIONAL PAPER - PAPIER - PAPLY The Feshermans emoral Gloucester, Massachusetts EssexCounty Codak PROFESSIONAL - PAPIER - PAPEL Kodak 07 3111 NNNN240 13 Photo-bu BARBARA H. ERKKILA 31 Prospect Street Gloucester, MA 01930-5896 1994
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