Outside the Oxford Community Arts Center stands the status of the 23rd First Lady of the United States, the co-founder of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and its first President, Caroline Scott Harrison. Oxford Community Arts Center is a historic building that was the home of the Oxford Female Institute since 1849 and the Oxford College for Women in 1906. Caroline’s father, Reverend John Witherspoon Scott, managed and taught at the school, and Caroline herself graduated in 1852. Miami University bought and renovated the building in 1928, and the DAR funded the ballroom’s construction in her honor. In 1998, when Miami University closed the building, Oxford citizens worked to restore it and repurpose it as an art center; three years later, the Oxford Community Arts Center was incorporated. In 2013, the Caroline Scott Memorial Committee was established, aiming to educate the public about her life and legacy. The committee commissioned Jarrett Hawkins to create this statue, depicting Caroline when she attended the Oxford Female Institute. 186 years after Caroline was born in Oxford, on October 14th, 2018, Oxford Mayor Kate Rousmaniere unveiled her statue at the Oxford Community Arts Center garden. Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison was born into a family of educators and abolitionists in 1832 in Oxford, Ohio. She was well-educated and taught art, music, and literature. In 1853, she married Benjamin Harrison; they had three children. When her husband was sworn into office in 1889, Caroline became the 23rd first lady. As first lady, she took little interest in hosting duties; instead she dedicated much of her time to charity work and supporting women’s rights causes, such as co-founding the Daughters of the American Revolution. However, her most significant undertaking was overseeing major renovations of the White House, including the addition of electricity, modernized utilities, refurbished rooms, and the beginning of preserving the house’s historical furnishings and possessions. As a result of tuberculosis, her health declined, and she passed away in 1892. Read more...

That is the first statue of a real woman in Cincinnati. A surprising fact since Cincinnati is Ohio’s largest metropolitan area, the nation’s 29th-largest, its first settlers arrived in 1788, and the city is home to hundreds of statues of men. The Woman’s City Club of Greater Cincinnati initiated the project to commemorate Spencer’s legacy and contribution with a statue. They managed the committee, the fundraising efforts and chose the artists- Gina Erardi and Tom Tsuchiya to create it. The statue was dedicated on Sunday, June 27th, 2021, on what would have been her 101st birthday. Marian Spencer (1920-2019) was a civil rights activist, a politician, the Vice Mayor of the Cincinnati City Council, who throughout her life contributed to the development of Cincinnati. Spencer was born and lived in Ohio her whole life. She arrived at Cincinnati to study at the University of Cincinnati and stayed, married, and had 2 sons. Since her arrival to the city, she worked to end segregation and discrimination against black people. Because of her work, desegregation happened in Coney Island, YWCA summer camps, and pools nationwide. Her activism work got her the nickname “Ms. Civil Rights.” Besides having her statue becoming the first in the city to honor a real woman, and especially an African American woman, she was the first African American woman elected to the City Council, the first African American president of the Woman’s City Club, and more. The life-size bronze statue depicts Spencer greeting a boy and a girl. Her right hand holds the girl’s, while her left hand invites the visitor to connect and hold her hand. On the ground, a formal invitation reads “Hold Hands and Unite.” Her quote on a bench behind the statue reads- “Be Smart, Be polite, Vote and Keep on Fighting.” Read more...