AUBURN — Come spring, the taken-for-granted statue of the late Edward Little will be repaired, cleaned and returned to its gold-bronze color, said Alan Manoian, the city’s economic development specialist.

Thanks to a Lewiston Evening Journal story in 1877, the restorer knows how to return it to its original golden hue, Manoian said.

“It’s going to be striking when unveiled new,” he said.

Manoian generated interest in repairing the sculpture when he told the Auburn School Committee in July that the statue is a “world-class” work of art created by Franklin Simmons, who was born in Sabattus in 1839. 

The Edward Little sculpture and a Civil War statue in Lewiston’s Kennedy Park, also sculpted by Simmons, were the first two public works of art in Maine, Manoian said.

“We can lay claim that Lewiston-Auburn is Maine’s cradle of public art,” he said.

Simmons, who attended Bates College, was an important artist in Washington, D.C., by the time he was 26, sitting with President Abraham Lincoln and other leaders. He later moved to Europe and died in Rome in 1913.

The Edward Little sculpture was ordered by the city of Auburn in 1873, cast and sculpted in Rome and sent across the ocean on a clipper ship to New York City. From there, it was sent to Auburn via rail. It was unveiled during an Auburn ceremony in 1877, attended by thousands.

Squire Edward Little donated land and founded Lewiston Falls Academy, later to become the high school named for him.

For years, the statue stood at the former high school and park. It was later moved to the current site near the newer Edward Little High School.

In July, the School Committee gave Manoian the go-ahead to raise money to restore the statue.

“I was contacted by a number of alumni classes and individuals who expressed an interest in funding the restoration,” Manoian said.

Bruce Lane of Casco will be hired to restore the statue.

Edward Little Principal Jimmy Miller said the project will be a combined effort between the economic development office and the high school.

“We’ve had a great response from alumni; it’s been a good combined effort,” Miller said, adding that Manoian did a lot of work to make the project a possibility.

In the spring, the high school will hold a kick-off to the restoration with students and alumni. The statue is the heart and soul of the high school’s foundation, Miller said.

The sculpture illustrates that some of the important economic development assets “are not going to come from outside the city,” Manoian said. “We have it here in our own city,” if it’s treated as the cultural treasure it is.

For the past 50 years, the Edward Little sculpture has been vandalized.

“There are countless stories of what has been done to the statue: pumpkins smashed on it, spray-painted, hazing,” Manoian said.

Lane will chemically treat the statue to stabilize what Manoian described as a “bronze disease” that has eroded parts from time and exposure.

However, “it’s in excellent condition for its age,” he said.

bwashuk@sunjournal.com