Over the weekend of May 21, the Union College class of 2000 met for their five-year reunion on the campus of their alma mater in Schenectady, New York. Flashlight suspects that some things from that weekend in Schenectady should stay in Schenectady but the class of 2000 also did something that might be of note here in Alaska. They dedicated a memorial honoring William Seward, a Union College alumnus from the class of 1820, who served as Secretary of State to Abraham Lincoln and was responsible for negotiating the Alaska Purchase.
Union College's class of 2000 purchased a 3700-pound Alaska boulder and fitted it with two bronze plaques to honor Seward. The boulder was blasted from the mountainside near Bird Creek, when Seward's namesake highway was being straightened and widened about two years ago. One plaque lists Seward's accomplishments, including service as New York's governor and U.S. Senator, and helping Lincoln write the emancipation proclamation. The other plaque features a quote from an 1858 speech in which Seward commented on slavery, the abolitionist movement, and the conflict leading up to the Civil War: “It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces…”H”
Had the Seward Highway boulder stayed in Alaska, it would have had a more common and less grand fate. The rock was large enough to become “rip wrap,” what engineers call boulders used to shore up dikes, bridges, or roadsides. “You could use that on the inlet side of a road or railroad, but they wanted a big boulder to honor William Seward and we think that's great, too,” said Steve Lovs of Anchorage Sand & Gravel, the company that provided the rock.
Schenectady has a street named Seward Place, but memorial proponent Duncan Crary said Union College itself had no proper memorial for the man. Many students and locals didn't know who the street was named for, Crary said. “The man was actually instrumental in ending slavery, and all we ever hear about is 'Seward's folly' and 'Seward's ice box,'” Crary said.
Seward lived much of his life in Auburn, New York, where his former home is a museum. In Schenectady, Thomas Edison is perhaps the town's most celebrated homeboy. In 1887, Edison moved Edison Machine Works to Schenectady and five years later renamed the company General Electric. Edison, of course, was known for being a shrewd businessman who kept patent attorneys on retainer throughout his career. Edison capitalized on innovations such as electric light, sound recording and motion pictures; none of which he invented, all of which he advanced.
Crary said Seward's Union College connection was pretty much lost on the students and the people of Schenectady, so his classmates decided to rectify that when the time came to make a class gift to the campus with the monument. Five years ago, they also renamed the campus shuttle bus “Seward's Trolley” to honor Seward.