Ames Monument
.jpg)
The Ames Monument is a large pyramid dedicated to brothers Oakes Ames and Oliver Ames, Jr., located at latitude, 41° 10' 54'"33, longitude, 105° 27' 39'"88 about 20 miles east of Laramie, Wyoming. It was designed by noted American architect H. H. Richardson with plaques by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and built by the Union Pacific Railroad Company. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The monument was authorized by company stockholders at a meeting held in Boston on March 10, 1875. When completed in 1882, it stood 300 feet south of, and 32 feet above, the highest elevation of the Union Pacific tracks at 8,247 feet. (In 1918 the tracks were relocated about three miles south.) Although the company believed they owned the land on which the monument was constructed, they were mistaken, and in 1885 the land was purchased for $9.75 by William Murphy, who intended to cover the pyramid with advertising. The company thwarted this scheme by obtaining a special deed in 1889.
The monument is a four-sided, random ashlar pyramid, 60 feet square at the base and 60 feet high, constructed of light-colored native granite. It was built by Norcross Brothers of Worcester, Massachusetts for a cost of $65,000, employing some 85 skilled and semi-skilled workers.
References
- Dell Upton, Architecture in the United States, Oxford University Press, 1998, pages 96-97. ISBN 019284217X.
- Historic American Building Survey (Library of Congress)
- Wyoming Arts, Parks, and History