Ok, here is a rough and dirty guide to some locations I discovered while reading through our first library project transcripts. I cited the articles where I found the information, and we can consult them to hunt down who was responsible for the events, as well as link to them in our pinpoints.
Dowling Statue
1903 – Original plan for statue placement – the corner of Main Street and McKinney Avenue, near the First Presbyterian Church and Carnegie Library. Originally planned to be unveiled on Jefferson Davis’s birthday, as well: June 2, 1903. (DD0019)
1905 – the Dowling statue stood in Market Square at the corner of Preston Avenue and Travis Street (DD0002 – an account of the unveiling ceremonies.) (DD0003a/b – more about the unveiling ceremonies and the statue; reference for the original location) (DD0025 – another account of the unveiling, this time from a Galveston paper – describes in detail how funds and support were raised for the monument, and who was behind it all – especially useful for our purposes, I think!)
1939 – statue moved to Sam Houston Park, where it stood in front of the Noble Home until 1957 (DD0016 – describes the movement of the statue because the old City Hall was being converted into a bus station) In 1940, was dedicated at this site (DD0030 describes this ceremony, held by the United Confederate Veterans and the Daughters of the Confederacy)(about the Noble House: http://www.heritagesociety.org/knoble.html )
Original plan for statue’s location in Hermann Park: Where statue of Hermann now stands (DD0018)
Hermann Park – 1800 N. MacGregor Way. Moved here in 1958? Was only in storage for a year? (DD0008 – imagined interview with Dowling that mocks his current out-of-the-way location)(DD0015) (DD0017 – interesting article about Dowling’s sword being repeatedly stolen) (DD0026 – describes rededication ceremonies in 1997 in Hermann Park) (DD0031 – describes the historical marker to be placed there in 1966.)
http://hist246.blogs.rice.edu/2011/04/04/the-monument-restoration-movement/ <<About the monument’s restoration.
Dowling’s grave
St. Vincent’s cemetery, on Navigation Boulevard, the oldest cemetery in the city and home to the graves of various heroes and pioneers, adjacent to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church; in 1929, the cemetery was considered by Houston attorney and historian Ingham H. Roberts as another potential location for the statue, after City Hall was abandoned, as opposed to Sam Houston Park (DD0023 – source for the info in this paragraph, complains that there is currently nothing marking Dowling’s burial place and calls for a monument of some kind)
1899 – way back at this time, it appears the Dick Dowling Camp of the UCV was trying to raise money for a monument at Dowling’s grave, but it failed. (DD0039 – a call to veterans to contribute to building a monument directly, not through their camps. Apparently this ended up being ineffective too.)
1935 – a monument was finally placed. (DD0010a/b/c – describes the unveiling of the monument to Dowling in the cemetery. According to this article, the Max Autrey Post of the American Legion is responsible for this monument.)
Dowling Street/Emancipation Park
(DD0029 – mentions how over the past 20 years or so – going back from 1997 – “some blacks have periodically called for renaming Dowling Street, a major business thoroughfare in a predominantly black area east of downtown.”)
http://hist246.blogs.rice.edu/2011/03/29/more-on-emancipation-park/ <<<blog post we should read, and perhaps we can link to some of the references she used when we make our pinpoints
http://hist246.blogs.rice.edu/2011/02/07/emancipation-park/ <<<Another relevant blog post dealing with recent concerns for Emancipation Park
Misc
Main and Prairie – Dowling’s first saloon, “the Shades,” opens in 1857
Main and Congress – the Bank of Bacchus in 1860
(DD0035 for both of these)