Conaway: Around here, if you look closely, you’ll find a connection
“The Hiker” statue stands at Spanish-American War Memorial Park at the southwest corner of Central Avenue and East Parkway. The inscription on the plaque affixed to base reads: "The Hiker Typifying the American Volunteer who fought Spain in Cuba, the Philippines, and Boxer Rebellion. Erected in 1956 with funds raised by Spanish War Veterans of Memphis under the leadership of Fred Bauer, Commander." It is one of dozens of copies around the United States of an original statue made by Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson in 1906. The original is in Minneapolis. (William Bearden/Courtesy Memphis Libraries Archive)
Dan Conaway
Dan Conaway was a freelance columnist with The Daily Memphian from 2018 to 2025.
“In that wonderful Memphis sort of way of zero degrees of separation from anybody and anything in the rest of the world, I’m related to Teddy Roosevelt.”
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