Uncle Sam Committee members applaud as Uncle Sam Plaza is dedicated on Town Day with the unveiling of a new sign that explains the historic importance of the location in Arlington Center.
Two hundred years after Arlington-born Samuel Wilson — a k a “Uncle Sam” — was recognized as the official representative icon of the United States, Uncle Sam Plaza was dedicated in the town’s Center.
Before a historic sign was unveiled near the state of Wilson, at Mystic Street and the bikeway, Selectmen Joseph Curro Jr., the emcee for the occasion on Town Day, said he had overheard a father tell his daughter, “I didn’t known Uncle Sam was born here.”
He was — in 1766, in the village of Menotomy — among the facts that forces promoting tourism for Arlington as well as Lawrence McKinney wants you to know.
McKinney, 69, is a longtime Town Meeting member who has been pushing the connection between “Uncle Sam” and Arlington since the 1990s.
His effort was revived in 2008 and got a push on the Town Meeting floor in 2011, when McKinney sang a ditty he wrote about the man to the tune of Stephen Foster’s “Camp Town Races.” See and hear it on YouTube >>
The 30 or so gathered for the plaza dedication on Saturday, Sept. 21, helped McKinney reprise the song. The words don’t trip off the tongue, so participants got sheets with the words.
Curro and fellow Selectman Steve Byrne read a proclamation, with those present shouting out “whereas” wherever it was mentioned.
The proclamation touches on Wilson’s history, that he gained fame after starting a meat-packing business in Troy, N.Y.
In 1813, Wilson included the initials “U.S.” in the label on barrels of meat he was supplying to the Army, and some soldiers joked that the letters stood for Uncle Sam. The connection stuck, and that year “Uncle Sam” replaced “Brother Jonathan” as the image representing our country, Curro said.
McKinney said the Uncle Sam statue was placed in Arlington Center in 1976, but he has long sought to do something to draw more attention to the statue.
Last spring, McKinney and the Uncle Sam Committee requested $2,000 for the purchase and construction of a historic sign, and Town Meeting approved the funding in May. The total price tag for the sign ended up at about $2,500, but McKinney said the committee had enough in its coffers to cover the difference.
Lighting has also been added, so that the statue may be seen at night.
Plans are to route the Minuteman Bikeway along Mystic and past the plaza before crossing Mass. Ave. and connecting at Swan Place. The sidewalk now beside Mystic would be closer to the bank on the corner and run more directly into the plaza.
Offering words during the dedication was state Senator Ken Donnelly. In the audience state Reps. Dave Rogers and Sean Garballey, state Senator William Brownsberger and Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian.
The Arlington High School Madrigal Singers lead those present in “God Bless America.”
The member of the Uncle Sam Committee are McKinney, chairman; Hugh McCrory, secretary; Else Fiore, Andy O’Brien, Mike Ruggieri (who provided planting at the base of the statue) and Carl Wagner.
This story was published Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013.
