page_title: Peter Muhlenberg Memorial
section_title: Planning
hierarchical_section_title: Peter Muhlenberg Memorial / History / Planning
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Paul's Lutheran Church (ELCA) on Connecticut Avenue, NW, in Washington, D.C.
context_page_description: The Peter Muhlenberg Memorial is a public monument in Washington, D.C. It honors John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, a Lutheran minister, Continental Army general, Federalist Era American politician, and member of the prominent Muhlenberg family. The memorial is located in a one-acre park bounded by Connecticut Avenue, Ellicott Street, and 36th Street NW on the eastern edge of Washington's Wakefield neighborhood. Designed by architect John Harbeson, it features at its center a bronze bust of Muhlenberg, sculpted by his descendant, Caroline M. Hufford. Completed in 1980, 52 years after its construction was authorized by Congress, attendees at the dedication ceremony included West German ambassador Peter Hermes.
  The bronze sculpture of Muhlenberg is displayed on a limestone pedestal and surrounded on three sides by a concrete exedra. The memorial is owned and maintained by the National Park Service, a federal agency of the Interior Department.
context_section_description: On May 2, 1928, Congress passed Public Resolution No. 30, authorizing construction of the monument, with funds to be raised by the Peter Muhlenberg Memorial Association and the design to be approved by the United States Congress Joint Committee on the Library and the Commission of Fine Arts. Congressmen Alfred L. Bulwinkle of North Carolina, who sponsored the resolution, and R. Walton Moore of Virginia both spoke in favor of its passage in the House of Representatives. Calling Muhlenberg "one of America's great men," Bulwinkle opined that "the appreciation of Congress should be given to the Peter Muhlenberg Memorial Association for the idea of erecting here, in the Capital of the Nation, a fitting monument to serve as a memorial to one of the men who helped to found this Republic." Before further action could be taken, financial problems caused by the Great Depression resulted in delayed construction of the new church building and a halt in fundraising for the memorial.
  In 1959, the year after the church was completed, a committee was named to begin soliciting funds for the memorial's construction. Washington attorney and St. Paul's congregant Henry F. Lerch III was instrumental in relaunching the project, serving as chairman of the Memorial Association, with the goal of completing it in time for the United States Bicentennial. John Harbeson of the Philadelphia firm Harbeson, Hough, Livingston & Larson, a former president of the National Academy of Design, was chosen as the architect while Charles Town, West Virginia-based artist Caroline Muhlenberg Hufford was chosen to sculpt the bust at its center. Hufford, formerly of Reading, Pennsylvania and Arlington, Virginia, was a daughter of noted architect and former Pennsylvania Congressman, Frederick A. Muhlenberg, and a third great-granddaughter of Peter Muhlenberg. The E. A. Baker Company of Washington was hired as general contractor. Following several changes to the site's preliminary design, including reducing the height of the proposed backing wall, the Commission of Fine Arts gave its approval in September 1975. The memorial cost $59,430 to build (equivalent to $209,354 in 2019).
caption: St. Paul's Lutheran Church from 36th Street NW in 2015.
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