Hall of Fame for Great Americans
The original "Hall of Fame" is the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, a now almost-forgotten institution located in what was originally a campus of New York University and is now Bronx Community College in Bronx, New York.
It was dedicated in 1901, and honorees were elected at five-year intervals from 1900 through 1970, and in 1973. During its heyday the election of new honorees was considered a national news event, and the choices of honorees were a topic of lively public debate.
Honorees include many names that are still familiar (Wilbur and Orville Wright, Benjamin Franklin, John Philip Sousa) and some that seem quite obscure: (Naval officer and oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury, astronomer Maria Mitchell, jurist Rufus Choate).
The Hall of Fame includes a 630-foot outdoor colonnade featuring 98 bronze busts and commemorative plaques. The colonnade has places for 102 busts and 102 honorees have been elected, but due to lack of funding the last four busts were never commissioned.
It also includes three buildings: the Gould Memorial Library, a Hall of Languages, and a Hall of Philosophy. The Gould Memorial Library was used as a setting in the movies A Beautiful Mind, The Thomas Crown Affair, and Sophie's Choice. In 2004, the J. Paul Getty Trust donated $228,000 to repair the badly deteriorating building.[1]
External links
Hall of Fame for Great Americans
References
- ↑ Arenson, Karen W. (2004) "Regilding a Bronx Landmark," The New York Times, July 30, 2004, p. B1
