By Nancy Burgess - Caption courtesy of Richard Sims, former Director of the Sharlot Hall Museum.
A restored and resplendent elk returns home
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, in 1899, a committee was appointed by the Elks Club to investigate the feasibility of erecting an Elks Building in downtown Prescott.
A downtown site was purchased in 1900 in the 100 block of East Gurley Street. 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 (now known as the Elks Opera House), with its 900-seat opera house, 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 installed on the roof of the Elks Opera House. The elk was made of copper donated by the United Verde Copper Mine in Jerome, Arizona. 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.
This statue was removed from the Elks Opera House in 1971 when the Elks Club moved out of town and took the elk with them to their new headquarters in Prescott Valley, Arizona. And there it remained until October 2006, when, after a lengthy term of negotiations with the Elks Club, the elk, known as "Bill", was removed from the Prescott Valley location for restoration and reinstallation on 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 W. H. Mullins Art Metal Works was widely known for its production of statuary that was stamped out of copper and bronze. The W. H. Mullins Art Metal Works started making statuary shortly before 1880. Their designs included architectural ornaments and huge statues of Norse gods, Greek goddesses, soldiers on horseback, allegorical figures and war monuments, some 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 Salem, Ohio, a Quaker town, after being persuaded to come to work for the Mullins company 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 Mullins company stopped making sculptures entirely. Segesman retired in the late 1920s and died in 1953. 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.
The manufacturing process for statuary used by the Mullins company is known as hot stamping. It involved modeling a figure in clay, then producing plaster casts of the artwork. Some of these clay models were more than 50 feet tall. Once the clay model was completed to the sculptor's satisfaction, the plaster casts were made. From the plaster casts, dies were manufactured for the hot stampings of the sheet metal that would make up the components of the statue. The bottom die was made of zinc. The upper die was made of lead and was used as a drop hammer to shape the metal into the lower die. The sheets of copper or bronze were heated, and then placed into the bottom die on large presses and smashed into shape between the dies. This process was very skilled work. The production of a perfect hot-stamped part was crucial to the assembly of the statue and was a tribute to the workmen's skill. The metal pieces were processed through several hardening and annealing processes and were then assembled and soldered. Once the seams were smoothed, the joints were almost invisible. This process for creating a three-dimensional sculpture could be completed in about four weeks and resulted in a much lighter, less expensive product compared to sculpting in carved stone or cast bronze. Most sculptures were made to order, and multiples could be made of the same statue by reusing the dies. This is the process by which "Bill" was created.
One of the W. H. Mullins Art Metal Works advertisements from the turn of the 20th century is directed toward fraternal organizations, particularly the B.P.O.E. Elks clubs, and shows an illustration of a "Life Size Statue Elk in Sheet Copper For Elks' Rest Monuments and Front of Lodge Buildings." The elk in the illustration on the advertisement is exactly the same style and profile as the Prescott elk, "Bill." His twin, with slightly different base, graces a gravesite in the Grandview Cemetery in Salem, Ohio.
Once "Bill" was taken down from the Elks Club in Prescott Valley, the transformation began. Under the guidance of the City of Prescott, numerous members of the greater Prescott community offered their services and expertise to bring "Bill" back to the Elks Opera House. The restoration of the elk was a challenge to the owners and staff of The Bronzesmith in Prescott Valley, since they are accustomed to working with cast bronze rather than hot-stamped sheet copper. After formulating a rehabilitation plan, some major surgery was performed in order to reattach the antlers. Most the various layers of paint, which had been applied over 100 years, were removed, including aluminum roofing paint, which may have led to the local opinion that the elk was made of aluminum. Repairs were made to all of the seams and breaks and the finish was restored. John Segesman probably would have been proud to see the results of the restoration and to see that his work has survived for 101 years.
On December 6, 2006, "Bill" the elk came back to Prescott on a flatbed truck and then flew, with the assistance of a crane from A & B Sign Company of Prescott, back to the roof of the Elks Opera House. His flight was slow and practically straight up, but the members of the community who came to watch the elk in flight were thrilled to see him flying back to his traditional spot on the roof of the Elks Opera House. Once on the roof, he was reinstalled on the same platform on which he originally stood in 1905. With new lighting and a red bow for the Christmas holidays, "Bill," the elk, again has become a landmark of downtown Prescott. His profile is again visible from many vantage points, and he will, hopefully, continue to stand watch over the Elks Opera House and downtown Prescott forever.
(Nancy Burgess is the Historic Preservation Officer for the City of Prescott.)
The Elks Opera House, c. 1915. (Photo courtesy of Sharlot Hall Museum, PVF Collection
Call Number: BU-B-8021pb. Reuse only by permission).
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(Flying Elk) Reuse only by permission.
On December 6, 2006, "Bill" the Elk flew back to the Historic Elks Opera House. Photo courtesy of Nancy Burgess
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(Elk at Christmas) Reuse only by permission.
With new lighting and a red bow for the Christmas holidays 2006, "Bill," the elk, again has become a landmark of downtown Prescott. Photo courtesy of Nancy Burgess