Erected in 1913, the Roger Conant Statue is a bronze statue of the founder of Salem, Roger Conant, located on Brown Street in Salem, Massachusetts.
The statue is a 10-foot-high bronze figure of Roger Conant wearing a cape and hat while standing on a large boulder.
The statue is facing the east, which is the direction from which Conant and his followers arrived in Salem in 1626. It is located in front of the Salem Witch Museum.
The statue was designed by artist Henry H. Kitson, an English-born artist trained in Paris, for the Conant Family Association. It stands on top of a boulder brought from nearby woods in Lynn, Massachusetts. The statue cost a total of $10,000 to cast, and the base cost $1,000.
The boulder features a plaque that reads:
Roger Conant Born 1592 – Died 1679
The First Settler of Salem 1626
“I was a means, through grace assisting me, to stop the flight of those few that then were here with me, and that by my utter denial to go away with them, who would have gone either for England, or mostly for Virginia”
The 60-ton boulder that serves as the base of the statue is a glacial erratic deposited in Lynn during the Last Ice Age. It measures 10 feet high, 10 feet wide, and 12 feet long. The boulder was hauled to Brown Street on rollers in the winter after the ground had frozen to prevent damage to the road and underlying sewer and water pipes.
The idea for the statue and its location on Brown Street was first proposed in 1905. The plan hit a snag almost immediately when the artist realized that no portrait of Roger Conant exists, making it nearly impossible to replicate his likeness, according to a 1923 article in the Boston Globe.
To solve the problem, more than 100 descendants of Roger Conant sent Kitson photographs of their faces and figures so that he could create a composite likeness from them.
In 1906, the plan hit another snag when Kitson asked the city of Salem to change the proposed location for the statue from the intersection of Brown and Washington to elsewhere in the city because he said the space was too small.
In 1909, an article was published in Massachusetts Magazine stating that efforts were being made to have Kitson’s proposed statue erected at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester instead, where Conant had served as governor of a fishing colony there in 1625 before later relocating the colony to Salem. The relocation plans for the statue never came to fruition.
In 1912, the city of Salem made enough space for the statue at the proposed site on Brown Street by removing an old drinking fountain that was once located on the site.
After the statue was cast in 1913, it was first displayed outside of the entrance to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston from January until May, when it was relocated to its permanent location in Salem.
The statue was dedicated during a special ceremony on June 17, 1913. Over 600 of Conant’s descendants attended the ceremony. Speeches were made by several members of the Conant Family Association, such as by Vice President Dr. William M. Conant, President Samuel Morris Conant, and historian Frederick Odell Conant.
Due to the statue’s Puritan clothing and its location near the Salem Witch Museum, visitors to Salem frequently mistake the statue for a witch and assume the statue is about the Salem Witch Trials.
Sources:
“Roger Conant’s Statue at Salem.” The Boston Globe, 6 Apr. 1923, p. 16.
“To Unveil Roger Conant Statue.” The Boston Record, 9 Jun. 1913, p. 8.
“Statue of Roger Conant Unveiled at Salem Common.” Daily Evening Item, 18 Jun. 1913, p. 12.
“Statue of Roger Conant Unveiled.” The Boston Herald, 1 Feb. 1913, p. 3.
“Roger Conant Statue.” Daily Evening Item, 18 Feb. 1913, p. 5.
“Roger Conant Statue Unveiled in Boston.” Evening Times, 1 Feb. 1913, p. 2.
“Conant Statue on Show at Museum.” The Boston Post, 17 Jan. 1913, p. 18.
“Unveil Roger Conant Statue.” The Boston Transcript, 17 Jun. 1913, p. 1.
“Roger Conant Statue.” Daily Evening Item, 7 Oct. 1912, p. 2.
“Statue of Roger Conant.” Daily Evening Item, 24 Apr. 1912, p. 2.
“Roger Conant State for Museum of Fine Arts.” The Boston Post, 20 Nov. 1912, p. 16.
“Statue of Roger Conant for Art Museum Grounds.” The Boston American, 20 Nov. 1912, p. 12.
“Fay Estate 60-Ton Boulder for $10,000 Statue of Roger Conant.” Daily Evening Item, 12 Dec. 1911, p. 14.
“Roger Conant Monument.” Massachusetts Magazine, Salem Press Company, 1909. p. 184.
“Site for Roger Conant Statue.” The Boston Transcript, 2 Apr. 1906, p. 16.
“Statue of Roger Conant to Be Erected in Salem.” Salem Gazette, 9 Jun. 1905, p. 3.
“Salem Is To Have Roger Conant Statue.” The Boston Post, 18 Mar. 1905, p. 41.
“Statue of the First Settler of Salem, Roger Conant, Soon to Be Erected.” The Boston Herald, 9 Jun. 1905, p. 14.
“Historic Statue Detail: SAL.937 Conant, Roger Statue.” MACRIS, mhc-macris.net/details?mhcid=SAL.937