Buchanan’s bronze sculpture to be brightened in Buchanan Park [The Scribbler]

James Buchanan will get a face-lift this spring.

More expansively, the entire statue of the 15th president of the United States will be cleaned for the first time since 2003. The statue stands in Lancaster city’s Buchanan Park.

Lancaster’s Masonic Lodge 43, along with the Lancaster city offices of Art Objects and Public Parks, will bring back the shine to the bronze statue with the aid of A.R.T. Research Enterprises, a local business that specializes in fabrication and restoration services.

Charles Grafly, a Philadelphia sculptor and professor at the Philadelphia School of Art, sculpted the statue from 1925 to 1927. Mary Buchmiller Ledwith unveiled the sculpture on June 1, 1928. She was the daughter of Dulon F. Buchmiller.

Dulon Buchmiller admired Buchanan and directed that $25,000 of his estate be devoted to the statue, according to Nathaniel Gilchrist, past master and historian of Lodge 43.

Buchmlller owned Buchmiller Locks. He also donated the land for Buchmiller Park. He was a member of Lamberton Masonic Lodge 476, a direct descendant of Lodge 43.

Buchanan was a prominent Mason. Last year marked the 200th anniversary of his service as worshipful master of Lodge 43. This year marks the 200th anniversary of his appointment as the first district deputy in Pennsylvania by the Grand Lodge in Philadelphia.

READ: What do you know — Lancaster had 2 Know Nothing mayors

Dual memorials nixed

It is interesting to note that Lancaster erected its Buchanan statue two years before the impressive Buchanan monument in Washington’s Meridian Hill Park. A lack of congressional enthusiasm delayed the national tribute to the Lancaster Democrat whom historians now rank as one of the worst presidents.

It is more interesting to note that both Buchanan statues predate by the better part of a century any sculpture of Thaddeus Stevens, the Republican U.S. representative who supported Black rights at the same time Buchanan sought to appease those who enslaved Blacks.

The Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology erected a Stevens sculpture in 2008 and the Thaddeus Stevens Society contributed a sculpture to downtown Gettysburg in 2022.

It is even more interesting to note that, if the Lancaster New Era had had its way, statues of both men would have been erected as early as 1903. Reading through old newspapers the other day, the Scribbler happened to find stories from January of that year boosting dual memorials to “two of the most illustrious citizens of our county.’’

The idea originated at a Lancaster Board of Trade banquet and the New Era jumped on it. The newspaper pledged $100 to the cause. H.S. Williamson, M.T. Garvin, W.U. Hensel and other prominent citizens pledged an equal amount.

As a Republican paper, the New Era naturally thought more highly of Stevens than Buchanan.

“Buchanan was the life-long advocate of slavery,’’ the newspaper editorialized. “Stevens spent his entire career in denouncing and trying to strike it down.’’

Nevertheless, the New Era and other enthusiasts seemed to agree that both men were worthy of recognition in bronze. As the New Era put it, “Politics can have no place here. Let the dead past bury its dead.’’

The newspaper printed its first plea for the memorials on Jan. 17, 1903. It made a second plea several days later, noting that a few residents had pledged smaller amounts to support the cause.

The initiative died from lack of support. Buchanan did get his statues in 1928 and 1930, but Stevens had to wait until this century.

Sometimes it takes some time to get it right.

Jack Brubaker, retired from the LNP staff, writes “The Scribbler’’ column every Sunday. He welcomes comments and contributions at scribblerlnp@gmail.com.