Pioneer Women of Kansas
Topeka, Kansas
Sculpted by city resident Robert Merrill Gage, unveiled on Mother's Day 1937, this pioneer woman -- the artistic embodiment of all Kansas pioneer women, according to the statue's inscription -- seems too well-fed to be a pioneer woman. The Kansas Pioneer Women's Association spent ten years saving money to pay for it. The mom sits, a dog by one foot, a pre-teen son by the other, a baby cradled in her arm, and a big rifle resting across her lap.