More than a century after "Iron Mike" became a fixture of downtown Hanover's center square, borough council approved a motion to return the dog statue to its original home at Mt. Olivet Cemetery.
The motion came without much fanfare as part of the consent agenda for the June 2024 meeting of the Hanover Borough Council, having been first voted up to council during the borough's Finance and Personnel Committee meeting the same month.
The relocation, which will bring Iron Mike home to the estate of George Washington Welsh at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, will be paid for and undertaken by the recipient.
Iron Mike, which for 119 years stood beside Hanover's Pickett, was a dog statue that was commissioned by George Washington Welsh in the 1800s, according to a Hanover Area Chamber of Commerce publication.
The statue was made of iron and was cast in York by Welsh, a Hanover resident.
Welsh kept the statue in his front yard until his death, when it was first moved to Mt. Olivet Cemetery in 1879 to guard over his grave.
After the dog statue scared countless horses that would pass through the cemetery, in 1905, Iron Mike would be moved to stand beside The Pickett, one of downtown Hanover's most recognizable landmarks.
The Pickett, which commemorates the Battle of Hanover, was placed downtown in 1904, just a year before being joined by the dog statue.
At that time, The Pickett and Iron Mike were in the middle of the traffic circle in Center Square. In 1967, the circle was demolished, and the pair of statues were moved to the northeastern quadrant of the square adjacent to the Clark Shoes outlet.
Now, 119 years after leaving Welsh's side, Iron Mike is returning home to Mt. Olivet Cemetery, where visitors will still be able to see The Pickett's faithful, if not accidental, companion.
Harrison Jones is the Hanover reporter for the Evening Sun. Reach him at hjones@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Hanover Evening Sun: Hanover, Pa. borough council approves relocating downtown statue
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2024-06-27 20:51:04Z
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