Property Record
200 CEMETERY ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | EAGER, ALMERON, FUNERARY MONUMENT AND PLOT |
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| Other Name: | EAGER, ALMERON, FUNERARY MONUMENT AND PLOT |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 140864 |
| Location (Address): | 200 CEMETERY ST |
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| County: | Rock |
| City: | Evansville |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1904 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2006 |
| Historic Use: | statue/sculpture |
| Architectural Style: | NA (unknown or not a building) |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Granite Stone |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Eager, Almeron, Funerary Monument and Plot |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 7/20/2011 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 2/18/2011 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation-Public History. THIS EXCELLENT FAMILY MONUMENT GROUP IS BY FAR THE LARGEST IN THE MAPLE HILL CEMETERY. ALMERON EAGER WAS A HIGHLY IMPORTANT FIGURE IN THE COMMERCIAL LIFE OF EVANSVILLE AND AN IMPORTANT LOCAL PHILANTHROPIST WHO DIED IN 1902 AND LEFT MONEY TO BUILD A NEW CITY LIBRARY BUILDING (EAGER FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY, NRHP, EXTANT). HE ALSO SPECIFIED IN HIS WILL THAT HIS EXECUTORS SHOULD BUILD A CEMETERY MONUMENT FOR HIM AND HIS FAMILY SIMILAR TO ONE THAT HE HAD SEEN IN BRODHEAD, WISCONSIN. THIS IS THE RESULT, BUILT AT A COST OF $7000-$10,000. The Almeron Eager Funerary Monument and Plot is located in the Maple Hill Cemetery, and it contains by far the largest and the most artistically ambitious funeral monument in this historic cemetery. The plot was intended to be the final resting place for Almeron Eager, his family, and future generations of his family. The principal resources within it were erected in 1904, two years after Almeron Eager's death. Almeron Eager (1838-1902) came to Evansville in 1868 and subsequently became an important figure in the business life of the 19th Century Evansville. In the process, Eager amassed a considerable fortune for that time and in his last years he developed a well-deserved reputation as a generous philanthropist. The monument itself measures some 20-feet-tall and it is made entirely of dressed and sculpted granite. This monument rests an a tall three-stepped base that supports a square plan pier, on the top of which is placed the life-size statue of a woman, one whose hands rests on a several-foot-tall anchor. The woman and anchor together are a traditional symbol of hope. The monument is further decorated with various Christian and secular symbols, and the name "A. Eager" is incised into the south face of the base." Evansville Historic Preservation Commission, Historic Evansville Walking Tour brochure, 2014. |
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| Bibliographic References: | NAME ON THE BASE OF THE PRINCIPAL MONUMENT. EVANSVILLE REVIEW, MAY 21,1997, PP. 8-9. Evansville Historic Preservation Commission, Historic Evansville Walking Tour brochure, 2014. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |