Statue #20: James Garfield

Rapid City, South Dakota

James Garfield (1881-1881) has been immortalized with a number of statues across the U.S. because he was assassinated, but since he was shot six months into his term (and died three months later), sculptors don't have much of a presidency to work with. Rapid City's Garfield statue is a standing, bearded guy in a hat and overcoat who looks a lot like Ulysses S. Grant. When Garfield was taken down for a cleaning in 2017, America's 20th President was apparently so unmemorable that the statue was installed on the wrong street corner. Now James K. Polk stands on Garfield's old spot.

Amazing Arcana of the Presidents

Garfield's assassin, Charles J. Guiteau, was so crazy that his corpse was sent to the Army Medical Museum to see if there was an anatomical explanation for it. None was found.

[Discover more fascinating details in the Roadside Presidents iPhone app!]

City of Presidents

Since 2000, Rapid City has commissioned and installed bronze statues of every former U.S. President on its downtown street corners. Visitors are encouraged to take a walking tour of the City of Presidents and inspect the nation's metallic Commanders in Chief. Paper guides are available year-round at the city's main Visitor Center at 512 Main St.