HISTORICAL REPORT
MEMORIAL FLAG STAFF STANDARD


The Flag Staff Standard is one of St. Augustine's most

significant public monuments. It is located in the Plaza area,

a central green with surrounding buildings on the bayfront.

The Plaza is the central feature of the Colonial City Historic

District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Plaza has been the setting for many of St. Augustine's most

prominent public monuments from colonial times to the present

and the focal point of public ceremonies, improvement drives,

and tree plantings. It has included many features over the

years, among them an alligator pond and an open bandstand

popular for music and political rallies. The original Plaza

area has been augmented by additional green spaces created

after World War I. The additional spaces consist of two small

parks east of the public market place and a third west of

government house. The Plaza has not only been a famous scenic

site for tourists, it is located at the center of the town's

commercial, religious, and governmental life.

The erection of the Flag Staff Standard was part of the

expansion of the original plaza which occurred after World War

I. It is located at Anderson Circle, a small park northeast of

the Public Market and west of the Bridge of the Lions. It is

roughly bounded by Avenida Menendez on the east, Charlotte

Street on the west, Cathedral Place on the south, and King

Street on the south.









The Standard rests on fill in an area which during the

Colonial Period (1565-1821) formed the shoreline of the

Matanzas Bay. During the United States Territorial Period

(1821-1845), a seawall was constructed along the bayfront. The

seawall contained a rectangular boat basin. The boat basin was

near or encroached on the present site of the Standard. Around

1890, about the time of the construction of the wooden bridge

to Anastasia Island, the boat basin was filled and the seawall

continued unbroken along the bayfront. The filled area where

the Standard presently is located formed the intersection of

Bay Street, Cathedral Place, Charlotte Street. The fact that

the Standard is located on fill is a possible explanation for

settling and other structural problems associated with its

base.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth, there

began a trend in the United States, best known as the City

Beautiful Movement, to improve the appearance of urban areas.

Parks and attractive landscape and streetscape features became

commonplace throughout the country. Among the leaders of the

effort to improve the appearance of the city of St. Augustine

was Dr. Andrew Anderson.

Dr. Anderson's first contribution to the beautification of

St. Augustine was a marble statue and fountain. The statue

was destroyed by vandals during the 1940s but the base remains

at the west end of the Plaza near Government House.

Dr. Anderson subsequently made a greater contribution to









the public art of St. Augustine. The third anniversary of the

armistice ending World War I was to be a national observance.

The principal event was the internment of the Unknown Soldier

at Arlington National Cemetery, presided over by President

Warren G. Harding. At the local level, Andrew Anderson decided

to finance the erection of an appropriate memorial to the

residents of St. Augustine who had lost their lives in service.

He commissioned C. Adrian Pillars, a resident of St. Augustine

and sculptor of national significance, to design the base of

the flagstaff.

During his lifetime Adrian Pillars was one of Florida's

most significant artists. He studied at the Art Institute of

Chicago. His work included Winged Victory, a memorial to

Florida's war dead at Riverside Park in Jacksonville; the Bryan

Memorial, Battleship Florida; the statues of General Edmund

Kirby-Smith and Dr. John Gorrie at the United States Capitol,

Washington, D.C.; and the statue of W.B. Barnett, Barnett Bank,

Jacksonville. The Memorial Flag Staff Standard at St.

Augustine is listed among his major works according to such

authoritative sources as Dictionary of American Sculptors, Who

is Who in American Art, and Dictionary of American Painters,

Sculptors and Engravers. Pillars home and studio were located

at 16 May Street. During the 1930s he taught at the Ringling

Art School at Sarasota, Florida. He died in 1937.

The Memorial Flag Staff was cast by the Gorham

Manufacturing Company of Providence, Rhode Island. During a









public ceremony on Armistice Day, November 11, 1921, Dr.

Anderson presented the newly cast, bronze Standard to the city.

The Standard featured six men from St. Augustine's history.

The information included above was obtained from records

at the St. Augustine Historical Society, the City of St.

Augustine, and the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board.

Sources included the Florida Master Site File, the St.

Augustine Record, Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and other

historic maps. Through Karen Harvey of the St. Augustine

Record, the consultants made direct contact with the Gorham

Manufacturing Company in Providence to obtain technical

specifications and other information regarding the Standard.

The historic records of the Gorham Manufacturing Company are

located at the John Hay Library, Brown University. Samuel

Hough, a consultant for the library, is searching the Gorham

Company records for information about the Standard. Hopefully,

the information will be forthcoming and will assist the city in

its efforts to preserve this important public monument. Others

who provided historical data about the Standard and Adrian

Pillars are the Ringling School of Art Library; Robert Harper,

Director of the Lightner Museum; Joel McEachern,

Riverside-Avondale Preservation; and Mrs. Judson Freeman,

Riverside Memorial Park Association, Inc. Mrs. Freeman

indicated that Adrian Pillars's daughters are both alive and

have information about his work. This source is also being

pursued.