By Nancy Burgess

The Elks Club, B. P. O. E. #330, of Prescott, Arizona Territory, was chartered in January 1896 and is the "mother lodge" of Arizona. Desirous of a building of their own in which to hold their meetings and social events, a committee was appointed in 1899 by the Elks Club to investigate the feasibility of erecting an Elks Building in downtown Prescott. A downtown lot was purchased in 1900 on Gurley Street just east of the Courthouse. In 1901, Articles of Incorporation were approved for the Elks Building Association. After members of the community lobbied the Elks Club to add an opera house to their proposed building and stock was sold to help fund this additional cost, architect, J. R. Minor was hired and ground was broken in January, 1904.

The Elks Building (the Elks Opera House), with its 900-seat theatre, opened on February 22, 1905. Touted as "about as perfect as the handiwork of man generally has to be," the opera house opened with great fanfare. On June 5, 1905, an elk statue was mounted on the roof of the Elks Opera House where it remained for 66 years. The elk was made of copper donated by the United Verde Copper Mine in Jerome. The elk was designed by John G. Segesman and was manufactured by the W. H. Mullins Art Metal Works Company of Salem, Ohio. This elk, which was visible in profile for several blocks in either direction, was a landmark of downtown Prescott.

The elk was removed from atop the Elks Opera House in 1971 when the Elks Club moved out of Prescott and took the elk with them to their new headquarters in Prescott Valley. It remained there for 35 years until October 2006, when, after a lengthy term of negotiations with the Elks Club, the elk, by then known as "Bill," was removed from the Prescott Valley location for restoration and its planned return to the roof of the Elks Opera House in Prescott. Over the years, "Bill" had been shot numerous times, had been painted silver, had received a large dent in his side, had nearly lost his antlers which were still barely perched upon his head, had sprung numerous leaks and was generally in poor condition.

In an article for the Ohio Historical Society’s January/February 1999 newsletter, "Timeline," Dale E. Shaffer wrote a detailed article about sculptor John G. Segesman and his work at the W. H. Mullins Art Metal Works. The company started making statuary shortly before 1880 and was widely known for its production of statuary that was stamped out of copper and bronze. Their designs included architectural ornaments and huge statues of Norse gods, Greek goddesses, soldiers on horseback, allegorical figures and war monuments. Some were so large that steps were constructed inside the statues.

John G. Segesman was one the company’s most prolific and talented artists. He was born in Switzerland in 1865 and came to the United States at the age of nineteen, settling in Ohio. In 1896, he moved to the Quaker town of Salem, Ohio after being persuaded to come to work for the Mullins Art Metal Works as a "potential artist." He was soon promoted from ornament modeler to sculptor and became the company’s primary sculptor in 1899. His first project was the sculpture of a thirteen-foot tall Liberty figure for the public square in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Although the original plan had been for Mr. Mullins to send Segesman to art school, he was too busy sculpting to leave his job. His skill as a sculptor resulted in the creation of hundreds of sculptures during his lengthy career. In addition to life-size or large portrait statues, animals, busts, war monuments and other three-dimensional sculptures, Segesman also sculpted bas-relief artwork. He made many commissioned works for Carlos Carbera, the former president of Guatemala. In 1928, the company stopped making sculptures entirely. However, numerous sculptures made by the W. H. Mullins Art Metal Works still stand today, though they are most common in the Midwestern United States. Mr. Segesman retired in the late 1920s and died in 1953.

Next week in Part 2, "Bill" gets a new lease on life as a Prescott landmark and returns to his original home atop the Elk’s Opera House.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:((bub8019p) Reuse only by permission.
The proposed drawing of the Elk’s Opera House by architect J. R. Minor in 1903 shows the idea of an elk sculpture on the roof was in the plan from the beginning.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(bub8021pb) Reuse only by permission.
The elk, sculptured by John Segesman, overlooked Prescott on this photo of the Elk’s Opera House, circa 1910.