A beautiful bronze statue of a man, his horse and a plow were unveiled Tuesday evening in downtown Atlantic, as part of the City’s 150^th Birthday, and its founder Franklin H. Whitney. The President and CEO of First Whitney Bank and Trust, Paul Gude spoke about the man depicted by the statue plowing furrows for what was known as Main Street, and later became Chestnut Street. Gude said Whitney was a visionary in making Atlantic grow, as evidenced by a plaque in his honor on the south side of the statue.

“The Founding of Atlantic”

He said the Atlantic Depot was part of that vision. Without that rail head being brought into town he said, the $200-million ethanol plant wouldn’t have been possible 150 years later. Gude said the statue serves as reminder of where we’ve been, and how far we’ve come. He said the statue, which the bank presented to the City as a token of appreciation to the community, will “Remind us to honor those pioneers that came out here and took a chance. A chance for themselves and their families to make a life in Atlantic 150-years ago. I hope it helps us appreciate people that today, are still taking chances – still staking their lives and their families’ future on Atlantic. And I hope that all those who follow in the next 150 years will do the same.”

With that, the tarp was removed from the 16-foot long statue mounted on a concrete island sunk deep into the ground in the middle of Chestnut, just north of 3^rd Street. A Coke can was placed underneath for future discovery. The audience was then introduced to artists Scott Smith and Troy Muller, who helped design and create it. Smith said Muller was his mentor and lead artist. Both are founding members of the non-profit, New Century Art Guild located between Elk Horn and Kimballton. Muller explained what it took to build the iconic vision of the past.

He said the piece is called “The Founding of Atlantic.” He said they began to lay the plans for the project in Paul Gude’s office in May, 2017. Creating a bronze sculpture he said, is not an easy task. It’s time consuming and a relatively dangerous process involving fire, molten metals, sledgehammers and “Lots and lots of elbow grease.”

Muller then presented the bank with a one-sixth scale sculpture of the namesake sculpture, for display inside the bank. He said the mission of the New Century Art Guild, is to put veterans back to work as artists, which is something they’ve been doing for some time. 100-percent of the proceeds from their sales of sculptures and projects go to the veterans.