Post written by Kathryn Skilton
[Note: The author of this post is a student in HIST 300, an independent study group that has been reading historiography about Dowling, the Battle of Sabine Pass, and the contested memory of the Civil War. To satisfy one of the requirements for that course, Kat did some additional research about the context for the re-dedication of the Dick Dowling monument.]
A study of the Dick Dowling monument and rededication ceremony of 1997 would not be complete without understanding the reason behind the monument’s rededication. While many in History 246 and History 300 have asked whether the main focus of this rededication was Dowling’s Irish Heritage or Confederate Legacy, few have asked a more basic question: why exactly was the monument being rededicated at the exact moment it was? The restoration of the Dick Dowling Statue, was not a unique occurrence in Houston during 1996-1997, instead, it was part of a greater movement involving federal, state, and local authorities to preserve outdoor sculpture and public art.
This movement, which restored many monuments around the City of Houston, developed over a long period in time. In 1989, the City of Houston commissioned St. Louis’ Washington University Technology Associates to study the city’s public sculptures and identify potential problems. This report identified three main structures in critical condition: The Sam Houston Monument in Hermann Park, the Spirit of the Confederacy monument in Sam Houston Park downtown, and the Dick Dowling statue in Hermann Park. All three statues needed considerable work; the city estimated that full restoration of these monuments totaled over $137, 000. In contrast, to make all the repairs and restorations to thirty-two monuments throughout Houston an investment of $446,000 was necessary (Johnson 1994). Measuring up to nearly a quarter of the total amount, the three monuments’ restoration cost was a bit beyond what the city could spend. Due to this, work on the monuments did not begin.
Also in 1989, Texas formed a branch of “Save Outdoor Sculpture!” (SOS!), a national movement to restore outdoor sculpture throughout the nation. This program identified and created an inventory of sculptures throughout the United States, and the City of Houston contributed to its data (THC 1999, 3). However, despite the time and energy spent on creating this program, not enough money was allocated to it, meaning SOS! had no ability to begin repairing damaged monuments like those found in Houston. In fact, the city and its statuary would not find a savior until 1991.
In 1991, the U.S. Congress’ Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) granted the state of Texas $200,000 to restore 10 monuments, including the Spirit of the Confederacy and the Dick Dowling Statue in Houston (Byars 1997). However, the grant by the SOS! to the Spirit of the Confederacy and Dick Dowling conservation projects only covered 80% of the total cost, and relied upon local organizations to cover the rest. To cover these extra costs, the Spirit of the Confederacy monument relied upon funding from the Houston Municipal Arts Commission and the Daughters of the Confederacy, while the Dick Dowling Statue received funding from the Houston Municipal Arts Commission and the Dick Dowling Irish Heritage Society (THC 1999, 5 and 8). In the History 246 blog posts on the Dick Dowling archives at the Library of Houston, Craig commented that in the 1997 restoration, “credit for its funding was devoid of Confederate interests.” However, the fact that the UDC was already funding another statue at the same time, may explain why these Confederate interests were missing in this particular restoration.
The Sam Houston monument was not included in this special allocation, however, the City of Houston, moving upon the upswing in restoration, decided to restore it anyways by allocating $208,000 in city (Byars 1997). This huge allocation by the city totaled more than the amount spent by SOS! on all ten monuments that received ISTEA funding (Makeig 1996a). These three monuments, originally identified in 1989, were restored at about the same time throughout Houston. The Sam Houston sculpture was restored first in the summer of 1996, followed by the Spirit of the Confederacy monument in October 1996, and finally the Dick Dowling Statue that finished restoration in December 1996 (Makeig 1996b; THC 1999, 5 and 8).
More importantly, all three restorations taking place in the City of Houston, while unique in their restoration processes, were part of a much larger movement. Sponsored by the City, the Municipal Arts Commission, and several other organizations including the University of Houston (Johnson 1994) the restoration bug spread across the city. In July 1997 alone, 17 more public sculptures were allocated $182,000 for restoration by the City of Houston (Byars 1997). The process of restoration, while expensive, was escalating throughout Houston and the nation as programs such as ISTEA allowed for the overall restoration of hundreds of public sculptures. The restorations began to address the problems of decreasing attention and maintenance of public art, and came to recognize the need for repairing the statuary and preserving history for the next generation.
The Dick Dowling statue in this sense was not a special case in its rededication. Having been listed as one of the most precarious statues in Houston, it was addressed when funding was found. After years of abuse from moving, the gulf air, and meddlesome college students stealing its sword, the monument was in a serious state of disrepair (THC 1999, 6). All of these issues needed to be addressed, not to mention the damage done by years of cleaning with only a scrub brush and water done by Larry Miggins for years (THC 1999, 6). Overall, Dowling was in terrible shape. This created a massive task for conservators. All the structural damage and environmental damage had to be repaired properly. Similarly, for the more specific damage to Dowling’s face and the loss of his sword, conservators had too look back at the original drawings of the artist in order to reconstruct the original design (THC 1999, 6). All of this conservation work was done for a total cost of $23,000, and was necessary to repair the monument to the quality it is today (Makeig 1996a).
The repair of Dowling was finished in December of 1996, however, the Dick Dowling Irish Heritage Society did not hold the monument’s rededication until March 1997. As the Irish Heritage Society had contributed a considerable amount to the conservation of the monument and dedicated to keep up its maintenance in the future, it was only fitting that they held the rededication ceremony. However, despite how interesting this rededication ceremony may be in the study of the Dowling remembrance, it is important to place it in context of the larger restoration and conservation movement of the 1990s that was changing the history of Houston, Texas, and the nation. When placed in this context, the Dowling statue becomes less important as it takes on a grater meaning when considering the larger commentary on preserving one’s heritage and public art for the next generation.
**(In an interesting side note, a brand new artificial stone mold was created to make a replacement sword. The mold was kept for future use if a replacement sword was needed—but the conservators secured the new one with aluminum pins so I doubt it will be going anywhere anytime soon!)**
Works Cited:
Byars, Carlos. 1997. City to receive award for protecting its outdoor sculptures. Houston Chronicle, October 18, 3 STAR edition, sec. A.
Johnson, Patricia C. 1994. Student ‘conservators’ prepare for artwork. Houston Chronicle, April 17, 2 STAR edition, sec. Zest.
Makeig, John. 1996a. Hermann Park’s Sam Houston dismounts for its first scrubbing in 71 years. Houston Chronicle, July 31, 3 STAR edition, sec. A.
Makeig, John. 1996b. RESTORED TO GLORY/City’s statuary begins to look like new again. Houston Chronicle, August 25, 2 STAR edition, sec. A.
THC. 1999. The Texas Ten: Preserving the State’s Historical Outdoor Sculpture. Final Report. Texas Historical Commission Conservation Treatment for Ten Historic Outdoor Sculptures. Austin, TX: Texas Historical Commission, August.