A statue honoring Emma Hart Willard, a women’s rights activist, educator, and the founder of the Troy Female Seminary – the first school for women’s higher education in the United States, which was later renamed after her. The bronze statue, created by Alexander Doyle, was based on an oil painting of 45 years old Willard sitting on a chair. Dedicated in 1895, it was the first memorial in the US commemorating a public benefactor woman. The Emma Willard Statue Association of Troy founded in 1890 by Mrs. C.L. MacArthur, a graduate of Emma Willard School, with the purpose of establishing a memorial for the woman who dedicated her life to promoting women’s education. Read more...