Thompson (William Oxley) Statue
Because of their admiration for President William Oxley Thompson, the classes of 1923, 1925, 1926, and 1928 resolved to create a “life-sized” figure of the president to stand on the west end of the Oval.
The sculptor, Erwin Frey, was an Ohio native and faculty member in the Department of Fine Arts, as well as a well-known sculptor at the time (1927-1962). The sculpture took 16 months to complete and was first done in clay and then cast in bronze. Frey was given $13,000 for the statue, including the supplies.
President Thompson sat for the sculpture, and was very pleased with Frey’s work, calling it worthy of high praise. Thompson wrote in his July 1930 column of The Ohio State University Monthly: “nothing in my long experience has moved me more profoundly than this evidence of esteem and good will which the cooperative effort of four classes has expressed.”
