The Vulcan Statue

Known as the largest cast-iron statue in the world, the Vulcan statue has become the symbol of Birmingham and the pride of a community. The Statue is fifty six feet tall and it is a depiction of the Roman god of fire. The Vulcan Statue is the biggest and tallest statue ever to be built in the United States of America and it is second only to the Statue of Liberty which is a little bit bigger. The Vulcan statue was build not to bring a nation together or to set forth the noble ideals of liberty and justice; the Vulcan statue was built as an entry in the 1904 World’s Fair…the spirit of competition.

The Statue had its beginning in the ideals of a comity but it came to life through the ideas and hard work of a man named Giuseppe Moretti, an Italian born sculptor. The clay sculpting which was to be later used to make the molds was built in the humble setting of an abandoned church in New Jersey, when it was finally completed, the clay molds were separated into sections and taken by railway to the Birmingham company that was to make the casting molds, which in their turn would make the statue.

The Vulcan statue is made up of twenty nine different sections; the heaviest of them all is the head which weighs about eleven thousand pounds (if you can believe it). What was so interesting and just seems right about the whole deal was that only locally made iron was used to make the statue. So not only did the community pitch together to win the state fair, the statue was also something that provided work and an economic boost to the entire area. It probably also put some good money in to the pockets of some while draining others.

The Vulcan statue eventually made it to the 1904 exposition and it was a credit to the people and to the whole community who pitched in to building it, it was a wonderful demonstration of the richness of minerals and to the whole place in general. It was enough to make even the most miserable of people feel proud. It won the Grand Prize, its mission was accomplished. The sad thing is that when the fair had ended and the town had won its prize, the statue was dismantled shipped back to Birmingham and then left to rot because of unpaid bills, I know that it is just a statue but it was a statue that did so much for its community and town that it deserved a little bit more then that.

Seems like I was not the only person that felt this way, the Vulcan statue was eventually re-erected, the problem was that when they put him back together again, they did it wrong, the spear that the statue was supposed to be holding was mysteriously missing (it disappeared on its way back from St. Louis.) Because the Statue had nothing in its hands, things were soon found that would go in his hands: the Vulcan statue went into advertising! He advertised everything from Coca-Cola to pickles. In 1930 the statue was taken down and re-painted.

The poor statue went on like this for a while until in 1936 he finally got the home that he deserved; a new park was made in the city and the statue was hoisted on to a brand new 126 foot pedestal. And instead of Coca-Cola bottles and Ice-cream cones, a new spear was placed in to the hands of the Vulcan Statue, he was also repainted with an aluminum finish.

It was a great celebration to finally have the statue in a place that was worth while. In 1971 the whole area around the statue was renovated, the original tower was done in marble and an elevator and observation dock was put in. At one point they found out that the statue was in danger of collapse because it had been filled up the chest with concrete. In 1999 the statue was removed to be repaired but nothing really happened until 2001 when it was shipped to Robison so that repair work could be made on it. When it was finished, the Statue was put back in its place; watching over the city that had done so much for it!