A Temple of American History
Framed by granite columns and sculptured on walls ninety feet high, the vistas of America's history will be fixed in time and purpose with the building of The Hall of Our History, on Pine Mountain in Georgia. Soaring into the sky and into the future, this unique monument, designed as a tribute to the American people, is planned to be both a perpetuation of the annals of the past and, in the spaces left to be traced in by history, a statement of faith in the continuity of the American tradition.
Charles F. Palmer '18, general chairman, has been working for over three years with an eminent committee of historians, sculptors and writers on the plans for this multi-million-dollar project which is to be built through a nation-wide subscription. Eric Gugler, the architect and originator of the idea, is finishing the final details of the designs, with the expectation that ground-breaking will begin within two years. The actual building will take at least ten years, at a cost of over 25 million.
Crowning a hilltop beloved by President Roosevelt, which has been given by the State of Georgia in a grant of two thousand acres, The Hall of Our History is conceived as a vast court, 415 feet by 253 feet, with walls rivaling the Pyramids in height. In sculptured relief and carved inscription will be traced the story of the United States, beginning with its discovery, through World War I. It is the plan of the sponsors that no generation will depict its own epoch. The giant interior, large enough to accommodate thousands of people, will have gardens, fountains and tree-shaded seats.
When plans for The Hall of Our History were first announced in August, Judge Learned Hand, a member of the policy board, described in the New York SundayTimes Magazine the purpose of the undertaking as exemplifying America's "government of the people, by the people, for the people."
Mr. Palmer, formerly U.S. Housing Coordinator and later a special assistant to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, has been a "shaker and a doer" throughout his active career. He is credited with getting The Hall of Our History located in Georgia. A successful campaigner for legislation on slum clearance and federal housing, he has written and lectured extensively on international economics and housing. He is president of Palmer, Inc., in Atlanta, and three years ago became chairman of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Warm Springs Memorial Commission.
Among the Trustees of The Hall of Our History are John L. Sullivan '21, former Secretary of the Navy, and Basil O'Connor '12, President of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.
Granite-carved walls towering 92 feet into the sky as seen from a portion of the main entrance of The Hall of Our History.
