Marcus Alonzo Hanna
(1837 – 1904)
Harrington Electric has been involved in a variety of statue and sculpture lighting projects over the years, and recently completed an interesting lighting job for the Marcus Alonzo Hanna statue, located on the corner of Euclid and Chester avenues in University Circle.
Marcus Alonzo Hanna (1837 – 1904) was a businessman who founded M.A. Hanna Co., and a national Republican party leader and U.S. senator. Locally, he was known to be very active in elections in Cleveland’s Ninth Ward and fought to keep party bosses in check. This was because he believed that businessmen like him – not party bosses – should be the authority in politics, and not the party bosses.
His crowning political achievement was getting William McKinley elected as the country’s 25th President in 1896, which earned him the informal title of “Cleveland’s Kingmaker.” Hanna died in 1904 and was buried at Lake View Cemetery.
As a memorial, a statue was created in his honor, with an inscription that reads, “Erected by friends and fellow citizens commemorating his efforts for peace between capital and labor, his useful citizenship and distinguished public service.”
Story Sources:
Kyle Addison Bennett – “Marcus Alonzo Hanna, Cleveland’s Kingmaker”
Case Western Reserve University – “Encyclopedia of Cleveland History”
