Lakeland’s Newest Monument Celebrates the Only Woman on the Declaration of Independence
PHOTOS BY JOHN JERNIGAN
At the Lakeland Veterans Memorial Park, a space devoted to remembering those who made great sacrifices to our country, locals can observe and honor enduring legacies. Numerous obelisks and plaques celebrate soldiers, first responders and other servants of our country.
A new statue, a bronze woman dressed in 18th-century fashion, will be added to this scene. Golden images of Revolutionary events, such as the Boston Tea Party, wrap around her skirt. She holds one of the most paramount American documents, suggesting she played a pivotal role in the founding of the country. Yet her name is largely unfamiliar: Mary Katharine Goddard.
She was unusually successful for a woman of her time, the head of a printing press in Baltimore. She often worked with the Continental Congress to produce political pamphlets and flyers advocating for the country’s departure from Britain. For a brief period, she even became a postmaster—the first woman to do so—but was removed from her position partly due to the Postmaster General’s discriminatory belief that females were not fit for the job.
Though she has been mostly forgotten to history, Goddard stood out to the Lakeland Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and Polk County Veterans’ Council, and rightfully so. She is the only woman whose name can be found on the Declaration of Independence.
As part of the DAR’s America 250 Project, the memorial highlights a figure overlooked from the past who put her life on the line in allegiance to the American Revolution. She was an ordinary citizen, and by printing the document with the original signatures and her own name for distribution to the 13 Colonies, she committed high treason.
Don Selvage, a representative of Lakeland’s Veterans’ Council and a United States veteran himself, recognizes her as more than a printer.
“We thought that this would be a perfect statue to put in Veterans Park,” he remarked, “Again, because we are honoring veterans since 1776.”
Partnering with Platform Art, Inc., a non-profit based in Lakeland that makes public art, the DAR and Polk County Veterans’ Council recognize Goddard as a patriot of our country in honor of the country’s 250th anniversary.
Through a three-year fundraising campaign, $300,000 was raised to create the artwork. Local high school students from Sante Fe Catholic and Lake Region High School supported the project by creating clay relief images that will be placed at the pedestal of the statue.
The artists of the monument are Becky Ault, the co-finder of ART Design Group and ART Research Enterprises, Inc., and Mike Cunningham, an award-winning visual artist.
It will be unveiled on November 7, during the annual Veterans’ Day Ceremony. This will be the first of the 18 monuments in the park to honor a woman.
Several educational features will accompany the installation of the statue. On the day of the unveiling, Dr. Christopher Young, a professor from Indiana University Northwest and an expert on Goddard, will give a lecture on her life. Tours through the park will feature biographical information about her.
But Mary Katharine Goddard is just one component of a park that tells a storied past with its extensive collection of memorials. “Having monuments or sculptures…creates an identity for your city,” says Platform Art Executive Director Cynthia Haffey.
The Veterans Memorial Park illustrates the deep heritage of the nation, and the new addition continues a tradition of recognizing the brave.
“We hope that the park itself will be a regular destination,” Selvage noted.
See the Monument of Goddard Unveiled
Saturday, Nov. 7 at 9 a.m.
Veteran’s Memorial Park