PALM 00010

Yandell, Enid

Daniel Boone

1906

Metal/Stone

Bronze/Limestone

Louisville's sweetheart sculptor, Enid Yandell, also contributed to the city's collection of public monuments dedicated to prominent state and city leaders. While working on sculptural decoration for the Women's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Yandell received a commission from the Filson Club, now the Filson Historical Society, to create a large-scale memorial statue of Daniel Boone that would decorate the front lawn of the Kentucky Building. This work would be her first major monument commission, and Yandell took great pains to accurately depict the great Kentucky pioneer. The Filson Club gave Yandell access to its collection of artifacts that were believed to have been possessions of the legendary pioneer, including Boone's hunting shirt, flintlock rifle, tomahawk, scalping knife, and powder horn.

The Kentucky Building Daniel Boone received so much acclaim that plans were immediately announced to create a copy in bronze for the city of Louisville. However, these plans were not realized for almost thirteen years when, in 1906, Charles C. Bickel, a local architect, approached Yandell to create a permanent version of the statue in bronze. The unveiling of Daniel Boone took place on June 15, 1906, and was the center of a larger celebration that involved festivities in honor of the legendary pioneer, including a reception hosted by the Boone family, musical performances, and dancing. A lively historical reenactment also took place, and was described by The Courier-Journal as "a reproduction of the Indian attack on Ft. Boonesboro [sic]. Settlers busily engaged in peaceful pursuits will be attacked by Indians while Daniel Boone is off on a hunting trip. An exciting conflict follows, and just when it seems that the fort and its defenders are doomed to destruction Boone returns to the rescue. The fort has been erected and everything is in readiness for the sham battle." Yandell's statue has been relocated from its original location--a shallow forest alcove of Cherokee Park, where Boone was intended to appear as if emerging from a recent expedition--and is now located in a more accessible and visible area in the Cherokee Triangle district off of Eastern Parkway. (KTF)