The statue is situated opposite Columbus, and was placed to commemorate 200th Shakespeare anniversary of 1776. Hackett also modelled for Shakespeare’s legs!

The NY Telegraph, 24th April 1916 published a retrospective article about the monument: ‘[James K. Hackett (son)] said that half a century ago there were no monuments and not much of a halo for the master dramatist, so that when his father first suggested to members of the old Century Club that it was timely and fitting to erect a splendid statue in celebration of the three-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Shakespeare, they laughed at his suggestion as chimerical, extravagant and impractical… Our English cousins poked a lot of fun at the plan, suggesting that Americans had better find out who Shakespeare was before erecting a statue in his honor.’

A ceremony was held at the statue to mark the 1916 tercentenary. On this occasion, a wreath was placed by the Shakespeare Brithday Committee, Herbert Tree placed a British flag, and Mrs James Hamilton Bass placed an American flag.

Inscription reads: ‘Erected by Citizens of New York April 23 1864 The Three Hundredth Anniversary of the birth of Shakespeare’

The statue was the first sculpture placed on the southern end of the Mall, which is also known as Literary Walk.

From Centralparknyc

Statue