Birth of an Icon
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Italian-born sculptor Giuseppe Moretti crafted the largest
iron figure ever cast in the world: Vulcan, a 60-ton, 55-foot tall iron god
of the forge, the useful god in the Roman pantheon who made tools and
thunderbolts for the other gods. By celebrating his productivity, Moretti
created in this Vulcan a special icon- the hero of the working people.
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Vulcan
was cast in a Birmingham foundry by local workmen from
iron mined on Red Mountain- the very mountain on which Vulcan Park would later be constructed.
Though time needed to complete the project was two to three years, Moretti
had only months. In the next four months, men worked 60-hour weeks to ensure
the statue would be complete. Vulcan won the Grand Prize in the Mine &
Metallurgy Exhibit and Birmingham leaders had to reject offers from
both St. Louis and San Francisco to buy the statue at the end of
the Fair.
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At Home atop Red Mountain
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After
seven months in St.
Louis, Vulcan came
back to Birmingham, only to be dumped beside the railroad
due to unpaid freight bills. His original spear was lost enroute home from St. Louis. The Alabama State Fairgrounds
offered him a home, but upon arrival, the statue was erected so hastily that
workmen incorrectly installed both of his arms. In 1935, two members of Birmingham's Kiwanis Club organized a
citywide campaign to find the statue a decent home. Funds given by President
Franklin Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (WPA) allowed the
construction of the park to begin.
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By 1939,
the 55-foot-tall Vulcan stood atop a 123-foot pedestal of native sandstone and
marble quarried just a few hundred yards away. Once again holding a spear
point in his right hand and a hammer in his left, the man of iron proudly
dominated Birmingham's skyline.
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Carrying the Torch
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Vulcan
was made a symbol of highway safety in 1946, surrounding his spear with a
neon torch that glowed green except after a traffic death when it turned red
for 24 hours as a warning to travel safely.
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70's Makeover
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In 1971,
Vulcan got a $1 million facelift including a new marble-sheathed pedestal, an
enclosed observation deck and elevator, plus a fountain, gift shop, and snack
bar to commemorate the city's 100th anniversary. But inside Vulcan, problems
were developing. To stabilize the statue, Vulcan had been filled to his
mid-chest with concrete and iron re-bar. But concrete and iron expand and
contract at different rates, causing the statue to become less stable. With
water entering through his uncovered head, the statue began cracking and
corroding.
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Vulcan Restoration Begins
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Through
the decades, Vulcan presided over the continued progress of Birmingham from his lofty site as the city's
undisputed symbol. But in April of 1990, an engineering study warned that the
statue could collapse as a result of cracks and structural problems.
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By early 1999, another
engineering report warned that huge chunks of concrete and iron could fall to
the ground if major repairs were not made. After 60 years atop Red Mountain, Vulcan had to come down and sits in 18 pieces in the
parking lot of the park. Mirroring the vision and enterprising spirit of
Vulcan's creators, a colossal effort is now underway to restore Vulcan to its
1904 grandeur and Vulcan Park to its 1938 glory.
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