Installation "Sons of Liberty 1775" Life-size Bronze Sculpture by James Muir Bronze Sculptor | Allegorical Sculpture & Monuments in Bronze

Minuteman stands guard at group's home

Statue donated to patriot society

By Sheldon S. Shafer
sshafer@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

A large bronze sculpture of a m inuteman holding a musket has been donated to the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in Louisville, which plans to display it prominently downtown.

The agency has its national headquarters at 1000 S. Fourth St., but plans to relocate to West Main Street in the next few years.

Designed by sculptor James N. Muir, an Indianapolis native now based in of Sedona, Ariz., the statue is titled "Sons of Liberty 1775" and depicts a young Revolutionary War-era sol dier standing at the ready, with one foot elevated slightly on a rock.

Muir is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution's Arizona society.

The non profit patriot group is a kindred organization of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It has about 28,000 members, all men who can trace their ancestry to the Revolutionary War era. The organization was founded in 1889 and has had its national headquarters in Louisville since 1979.

Joe Harris, the Sons of the American Revolution's executive director, said the $50,000 statue was donated to the national organization by the Philadelphia First Continental Congress chapter.

"We view it has a major new piece of public art for the city," Harris said. The Sons of the American Revolution last year purchased the old Fulton Conway Building at 805-09 W. Main across from Louisville Slugger Museum for $1.45 million. The property has about 40,000 square feet of space on three levels and awaits renovation as the group 's new headquarters.

A committee of the Louisville Metro Planning Commission is scheduled to discuss at a meeting tomorrow an application by the Sons of the American Revolution for a change from industrial to commercial zoning on the property, which would allow the development to proceed. Bruce Wilcox, past president general of the national organization and a resident of Alexandria, Va., said the group is trying to raise at least $8 million to renovate the property. He said it has about $2 million in hand.

The goal, he said, is to open a large genealogical library - the agency has a vast collection of materials - at the new site in spring 2010 and, depending on fund raising, move the entire operation to Main Street around 2012.

Organization: National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Goals: To promote fellowship among descendants of American patriots, preserving Revolutionary War and colonial records and encouraging research on the Revolution.
National headquarters: 1000 S. Fourth St., Louisville.
For information: Call 589-1776, or go to www.sar.org.