Henry Clay lost presidential elections to John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and James K. Polk. But that's not why Clay -- a slave-owning
Senator from Kentucky -- has a huge monument at Pottsville, Pennsylvania. It's because as a Senator he pushed through protectionist tariffs on foreign coal and iron, which made Pottsville's coal and iron more valuable.The idea for a monument was conceived by Samuel Silliman, a local mine owner, and pushed by John Bannon, publisher of a local newspaper. It took three years to build: a cast iron statue of Clay, 15 feet tall, atop a 51-foot-tall cast iron column -- altogether weighing almost 30 tons. It was dedicated on July 4, 1855, the biggest monument in America at that time. Pottsville is so hilly that Bannon could stand on the balcony of his nearby hilltop mansion and admire Henry Clay at eye level. Too bad for the people of Pottsville: a proposed staircase from the main street to the statue was never built.Today the statue is surprisingly hard to find on its steep hillside, hidden by trees. The only way to get to it is to drive along a narrow, almost private road away from all the main thoroughfares.
Henry Clay, the frustrated also-ran, has one of the biggest political monuments on the entire continent, yet has it in a town that few travelers detour to visit and in a spot that's really hard to see.
Directions:From S. Centre St. turn west onto W. Union St. and then left onto S. 2nd St. Follow S. 2nd St. up the hill and bear left. When you reach the curve you'll see the monument on the left.
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