My father defends the Ames Monument: UGLY!??! I’ll have you know that the Ames Monument contains within itself most of 19th Century American history — the railroad! crony capitalists! Manifest Destiny! New England duty! government extortion! congressional cynicism and betrayal! the industrial revolution! Victorian taste (it was designed by noted architect H.H. Richardson)! [Not to mention bas-reliefs by St. Gaudens]; irony (the UP moved the tracks and it now sits by itself in the middle of the lone prairie).

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Sunday Victorian Industrial Monument Blogging