Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/01/2002, LIAISON - FREMONT MONUMENT: PRESENTATION TO CHC MEETING �'�ENDA DATE �1---�=I►EM # MEMO September 28, 2002 To: Council Collea From: Ken Schwartz .10Copies: Ken Hampian, y George, John Mandeville, Michael McCluskey Re: Fremont Monument: presentation to CHC Attached you will find a Request for Review and Approval that I have prepared for presentation to the CHC during its October 2e meeting. The Fremont Monument has sat pretty much un-noticed at the SE comer of Mil and Osos Streets for years and years. I would lice to see some fairly simple embellishments made that would likely call greater attention to this monument. Given John C. Fremont's importance in the entry of California to the United States and his brief but noteworthy stay in San Luis Obispo, I thought it was time to do something more. If you think that this is wrong-minded, I would appreciate knowing your concerns. I have not burdened you with the attachments to the `Request,'but if you would hike to read them I would be pleased to forward copies to you after we return from the League Conference. RECEIVED SEP 3 0 2002 SLO CITY CLERK L ❑ CDD DIR ❑ FIN DIR ❑ FIRE CHIEF ❑ PW DIR G ❑ POLICE CHF S [3 UTIL 018 Request for Review and Approval October 28, 2002 To: Cultural Heritage Committee ersCharles Crotser, Paula Carr,Margot McDonald, Steven McMa 'Bob Schrage,Matt Whittlesley and Chairman Tom Wheel From Councilman Ken Schwartz Copies: Ken Hampian,Wendy Ge e, J hn Mandeville and Mice McCluskey Subject: Embellishments to the Fremont Monument at the corner of Osos and Mil Streets Background To the best of my knowledge,there are only two figures important in the history of California that are recognized by memorials in our City. One is a statue of Father Serra located on the Mission grounds and the second is a gravestone-lice monument commemorating John C. Fremont located at the comer of Osos and Mill Streets. Two elementary Schools commemorate local personages, Sinsheimer and Teach, and a third commemorates Romuldo Pacheo, a local who became governor of California. For years,the obscurity of the Fremont monument has troubled me. I doubt whether many residents even know it exists. When work was initiated on the Transit Center along Osos Street, I belatedly awoke to the possibility of integrating an embellishment of the monument as a part ofthat project. Transit Center plans that the CHC previously approved called for the repositioning of the monument,but that was all. (Incidentally,the re-positioning has taken already place.) In the meantime,the Transit Center went over budget and items had to removed The idea of adding to the monument via a change order is not now possible. Nevertheless, I wish to pursue this embellishment idea with the hope that some service organization looking for a`project"might pick up on it and carry it out. Proposal To make the Fremont marker more prominent and visually more interesting without changing the existing monument or its commemorative plaque, I propose three things be done: 1. Improve the landscape setting by building a 24"high masonry wall in an arc reaching from Osos to Mill(starting and ending behind the sidewalks)that weds the monument and creates more visual mass. Change the plants in front of the masonry wall to a mass of low lying but colorful plants such as yellow marigolds. The planting behind the wall to remain as specified for the transit center. (See attachment#1, Plan;and attachment#2, Perspective drawing.) 2. Attach a 16 foot flagpole to the adjacent wall and fly a replica of the 28 star flag that was the official United States flag of 1846—the time of Fremont's march from Monterey to San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara to supplant Mexican i Page 2: Fremont Monument authority with that of the United States. The flagpole would have an inscription attesting to the 28 star historical flag. This flag would be night-lighted to conform with the new City policy of leaving all flags flying 24 hours thus reducing the labor of raising and lowering flags each day. 3. Add a small engraved stone behind the sidewalk at ground level with the description of Fremont's accomplishments as encapsulated by his wife,Jessie Benton Fremont: "From the ashes of his campfires have sprung cities." John C. Fremont was an important figure in American history, an Army topographical engineer who mapped much ofthe Great Basin. He was often called"the pathfinder"or "path-marker"for his exploits in finding routes through the Sierras into California and Oregon.A Major General during the Civil War, Fremont served as U.S. Senator from California and 1856 he was the first nominee for President of the newly formed Republican Party. Fremont, California,is one of several American cities that bear his name. I think we might do better in drawing attention to the monument erected in honor of Fremont's exploits here in San Luis Obispo and that is the purpose of this request. Attachment# 3 contains additional information obtained from the Library of Congress program called"Ask Your Librarian." Attachment#4 is the official American flag of 1846. Additional descriptive information of Fremont's arrival and short stay in San Luis Obispo can be found on pages 233-235 of Dale L Walker's Bear Flag Rising,The Conquest of California, 1846, and on pages 87-89 of Thompson&West's 1883 History of San Luis Obispo County, California. This latter book points out that Fremont's encampment was located in the vicinity of what is now the intersection of Morro and Mill Streets several yards from where the monument is located.