Stevens College Alumni Group Launches Effort For Statue of Great Commoner

The alumni association of the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology has launched a fund-raising effort to erect the first ever statue of Thaddeus Stevens. The group hopes to put the eight-foot high bronze statue of Stevens seated next to a child on the front lawn of the Lancaster college. The eight beveled sides of the base will list Stevens’s accomplishments and large donors to the project. An artist’s rendition of the statue has been complete by Deirdre Foley Citro. The cost of the project has not been  determined.

Artist's rendition of Stevens statue and cobblestone court.

New Stevens Anecdote

Once when Thaddeus Stevens was visiting Vermont during the winter, a visitor came calling bundled in a buffalo coat and fur cap that completely covered him.  “Is that you Lewis?” Stevens asked his friend as he came in the door. When he replied that it was, Stevens said, “Well, skin yourself and sit down.”   Later in the conversation, Stevens told why he didn’t live in Vermont, the state where he was born. “You have but two season here – winter and late in the fall.” --Taken from the Washington Post, December 23, 1906.

After being absent for more than a year, the historic marker on the site of Steven's Gettysburg house on Chambersburg Street was restored during the summer.