ABSTRACT
When the Washington Monument was dedicated in 1885, Walt Whitman offered a critique in the form of a poem, in which he argued that the true historical significance of George Washington lay not in 'this marble dead and cold', but rather wherever true liberty existed in the world. The Thomas Paine Monument that still stands in the city of New Rochelle is the fruit of the first public effort to immortalise Paine. New Rochelle was Paine's home for a time after he returned from Europe in 1802. The monument faces North Avenue and stands roughly between the Thomas Paine Cottage to the south and the Paine Memorial Building and Museum to the north. With plans underway to crown the monument with a bust of Paine, a new problem emerged that threatened his immortalisation. The monument at New Rochelle has, still, yet to receive a comfortable welcome from the city.
