Kings Park/Smithtown NY.

This week took my back to Long Island NY and the Kings Park/Smithtown NY area.

The Smithtown Bull is a 14' tall bronze statue. It was built in 1923 and installed here on a concrete pedestal in 1941. There are several legends surrounding the origin of Smithtown. The most fanciful is that in the 1600s, Richard Smith rode "Whisper", his pet bull, in a deal to stake out property.

In 1903 Lawrence Smith Butler, a descendent of the Town founder Richard Smith, proposed the idea of a bronze statue to his friend sculptor Charles Cary Rumsey. Butler believed that money could be raised to pay for the project and a price of $12,000 was agreed upon for the completed work. In 1923 the casting was complete and ready for shipment. However, the funds were not raised and the statue was not shipped to Smithtown. It sat instead in front of the Brooklyn Museum for a number of years before being placed into storage. In 1941 Butler renewed his quest. He convinced the Town Board to build a concrete pedestal to hold the statue, raised the $1,750 needed to cover the cost of the move, and convinced Rumsey’s heirs to donate the statue to the Town.

First by truck, then via railroad, and then by truck once more, the fourteen-foot, five-ton bronze bull made its journey to Smithtown. On May 10, 1941, Mary Rumsey, daughter of the sculptor and wife of New York Governor W. Averill Harriman, presented the statue to the people of Smithtown.