page_title: Samuel Hahnemann Monument
section_title: Dedication
hierarchical_section_title: Samuel Hahnemann Monument / History / Dedication
caption_attribution_description: English: Dedication of the Samuel Hahnemann Monument in Washington, D.C.
context_page_description: The Samuel Hahnemann Monument, also known as Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, is a public artwork dedicated to Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy. It is located on the east side of Scott Circle, a traffic circle in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The Classical Revival monument consists of an exedra designed by architect Julius Harder and a statue sculpted by Charles Henry Niehaus, whose works include the John Paul Jones Memorial in Washington, D.C. and several statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection. The monument is significant because Hahnemann is the first foreigner not associated with the American Revolution to be honored with a sculpture in Washington, D.C.
  The monument was dedicated in 1900 following years of fundraising efforts by the American Institute of Homeopathy. Among the thousands of attendees at the dedication ceremony were prominent citizens including President William McKinley, Attorney General John W. Griggs, and General John Moulder Wilson. The monument was rededicated in 2000 and a restoration process was completed in 2011. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
context_section_description: The dedication ceremony took place on June 21, 1900, during an AIH convention.  Thousands of people, including hundreds of medical professionals, attended the elaborate ceremony at Scott Circle.  In front of the monument were chairs for distinguished guests, including President McKinley and his wife, Ida, both supporters of homeopathy, Attorney General John W. Griggs, General Wilson, and District Commissioner Henry Brown Floyd MacFarland.  Temporary scaffolding, adorned with flags and bunting, was built to shield these guests from the sun.  When the president arrived, the Marine Band played "Hail to the Chief".
  Physician James Bayard Gregg Custis of Washington, D.C. presided over the event.  His remarks included: "This monument is erected in the hope that from it, as a center, truth may be spread which will result in the lessening of suffering and the increased usefulness of mankind."  The invocation was provided by Presbyterian minister Benjamin Franklin Bittinger.  McClelland, who served as chairman of the monument committee, gave a brief address and formally presented the monument to the AIH.  The monument was then unveiled as the Marine Band played "My Country, 'Tis of Thee".  The president of the AIH, physician Charles E. Walton of Cincinnati, then presented the monument to the government on behalf of the organization's members.  He said, "Their labors make it possible, in this memorable year 1900, which marks on the dial of time the dividing point of centuries, to rear in our nation's capital this beautiful monument commemorating at once the genius of Samuel Hahnemann and the loyalty of his followers."  An ode by physician William Tod Helmuth of New York was read followed by acceptance of the monument by government representative Colonel Theodore A. Bingham.  He said, "It is with great pleasure that I have the honor, as the government's officer in charge of public buildings and grounds in the District of Columbia, to accept this monument on behalf of the government, and I assure you that every care will be taken for its preservation."
  The Marine Band then played "The Star-Spangled Banner" followed by an address by Attorney General Griggs.  He stated: "In the center of this park stands the statue of a great warrior, General Scott; on the other side is a statue of a great statesman and orator, Daniel Webster.  Here on this side, with great appropriateness, has been placed the statue of a scientist, a reformer, a good physician.  There is, said he, but one test of worthiness, and that is that a man shall have wrought in unselfishness, in the interests of his country, of humanity and the world.  It was the merit of Dr. Hahnemann, he said, that he exposed fallacy, uncovered truth and uncovered errors."  The ceremony concluded with the crowd giving three cheers for the president followed by the band playing music.  Following the ceremony, the president invited around 1,000 guests to the White House and received them in the state rooms.
caption: The monument's dedication in 1900
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