I go to Cheyenne a fair amount but it's only recently that I've noticed some interesting monumental architecture in the town, and some of that would seemingly require some explanation. A couple of examples are here.
I posted this one on Some Gave All, our blog that's dedicated to heroic monuments. It's really off topic, but at first I really didn't know where to put it. Here's the post from that blog (which I regret having used for the post):
Frank Wenger Holliday Memorial, Cheyenne Wyoming.
This is an unusual private memorial on a small, traffic island, park in
Cheyenne, Wyoming. I had thought it might be a war memorial, but it is
instead a memorial to the thirteen year old son, Frank, of Cal and
Rudolphia Holliday. Cal Holliday was a Cheyenne businessman and mayor
in the city's early days. What happened to the Holliday's young son I do
not know.
This unusual memorial is just off of the downtown business district of
Cheyenne in its historic district. This post is clearly off topic for the blog its on.
What's its story? A private memorial to a tragic loss like this is rarely done in the form of such a public monument.
And what's up with this?
A nearby huge monument to Scottish poet Robert Burns.
I know that Burns is regarded as the unofficial poet laureate of Scotland, but of Cheyenne? I can't think of a connection between Cheyenne and Burns, other than that the dedicating individual, Mary Gilchrist, must have been a huge Burns fan. Apparently the city had others, as they accepted the statute, which is sort of hard to imagine occurring now. Most monumental architecture in Wyoming now has a Western theme, sometimes an oil & gas theme, or no known theme. But a Scottish literature theme would be unlikely.
Epilogue
A post on the Early History of Wyoming Facebook site lead to a reply that indicated that Frank Holliday died by way of an appendectomy.
