 Grafly was a founder of the National Sculpture Society and longtime educator at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts who was best known for his portrait busts. Although Grafly was at the peak of his career, the CGA was hesitant in approving him to design the sculpture because his symbolic works has been criticized for being incomprehensible. The CFA finally agreed to consider Grafly and following several months of negotiations and changes, a preliminary sculpture design was approved in August 1918. Grafly received $ 85,000 for his commission. Several years of bickering about the final design and location of the memorial passed until March 28, 1922, when an official groundbreaking ceremony took place. The chosen site was near 3rd Street NW in Union Square, a public park on Capitol Hill, and close to the large Ulysses S. Grant Memorial. Before the memorial was installed, the last of the old Botanic Garden greenhouses were demolished and the Bartholdi Fountain was moved to make way. The architects chosen to design the memorial were Grant Simon and Edward P. Simon of Philadelphia. Piccirilli Brothers carved the memorial and the project contractor was the George A. Fuller Company. The total cost of the memorial and its installation was $ 400,000.
