The sculptor of the George Rogers Clark Statue, Hermon MacNeil, designed the Standing Liberty Quarter, which was in circulation from 1916-1931. MacNeil's design for the quarter featured Lady Liberty on guard against attacks. Interestingly, two other sculptors were charged with coming up with a design. One of them was Albin Polasek, who later sculpted the statue of Father Gibault that appears in front of the Old Cathedral. This was the quarter image, until George Washington was placed on the heads-side for the bicentennial of his birth in 1932. This same image, by John Flannagan, still appears on the quarter today, and will serve as the heads-side for the Clark Quarter.
MacNeil was chosen to sculpt the statue of Clark that stands in the center of the Memorial rotunda. The chairman of the George Rogers Clark Commission may have said it best when he said, "...It is a source of gratification that the Memorial will include such a striking and handsome portrayal of George Rogers Clark." It offers a wonderful first impression of the entrance of the memorial.
