Hugh Sisson

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Hugh Sisson

Hugh Sisson III aka Marble King of Baltimore[1] (May 3, 1820 – August 31, 1893) was a Baltimore, Maryland stone mason, whose work is found in much of the city's monumental architecture in the post-Civil War era. He established a business in Baltimore that grew into one of the largest and most technologically advanced operations of its kind on the East Coast. His firm, Hugh Sisson & Sons Steam Marble Works, was located at the corner of North Street and Monument Street.[2][3] Sisson imported marble from Italy, the first in the city to do so,[3] but also local marble could be just as good. He purchased quarries at Beaver Dam in Cockeysville, which produced stone of the highest quality known as Cockeysville Marble.[4]

Sisson's firm was responsible for the stone and marble work on many of Baltimore’s significant structures. Examples include Baltimore City Hall, completed in 1875, where Sisson's firm was credited with all the interior marble work, including columns, floors, and ceilings. The mosaic floor in the public rotunda was especially noted for its craftsmanship.[5] His firm also supplied the marble for the George Peabody Library, the granite for the bases of many prominent statues, and interiors of many institutions such as banks, insurance headquarters, post offices, and custom-houses.[3] Beyond Baltimore, he was involved in the construction of many important buildings, such as the United States Capitol, where 108 large columns, each 26 feet in length, were furnished for the addition of the wings in the 1850s and 60s. The main General Post Office in Washington, and the Washington Monument (partial). The Drexel and Penn Mutual Insurance buildings in Philadelphia. The spires of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. He began work on the South Carolina State House, but was forced to abandon the project due to the outbreak of the Civil War.[3][4]

Hugh Sisson was the stone mason responsible for the monument to Edgar Allan Poe's burial site in Baltimore. He actually created two versions. The first, a more modest headstone, was completed shortly after Poe's death. In a bizarre accident, the monument was awaiting shipment at Sisson's stone yard when a derailed train ran off the adjacent tracks and demolished it. Lacking the money for a replacement, the project was delayed for nearly 25 years. Finally, after a new fundraising effort succeeded, Sisson was commissioned to build the grander monument that stands at Poe's reburial site today, which was completed in 1875.[6]

Poe's grave is probably Sisson's most visited today, but the Sisson name can be found inscribed on monuments throughout the Green Mount Cemetery, the premier cemetery of Baltimore in the 19th century.[7] Sisson's best known works there include the ornate tomb of A. S. Abell, founder of the Baltimore Sun, and the sarcophagus for Betsy (Elizabeth) Patterson Bonaparte.[8] He also produced and signed the marker to the first burial in Green Mount.[8] Green Mount features numerous markers depicting sleeping children, including a work considered the most important American sculpture on this theme, William Henry Rinehart's Sleeping Children, a monument for Sisson's own children.[7] Sisson lost five children to childhood mortality. Acting as a friend and patron, he commissioned Sleeping Children in 1859 from Rinehart for the Sisson family lot.[9][7]

Sisson Street, in the Remington neighborhood of Baltimore City, is named for him.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Rasmussen, Frederick N. (October 25, 2012). "Back Story: Examining the history of the working-class Remington". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
  2. ^ North Street and Monument Street is modern day Guilford Avenue and East Monument Street. The street address was 200 North Street, which was the north-east corner. North Street is the former name for the entire stretch of road that is now Guilford Avenue south of the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83). The Sisson location was purchased by Northern Central Railroad after Sisson's death in 1893 due to its strategic location near Calvert Street Station to expand its rail yard, the building was likely demolished for that purpose, if not later for the construction of I-83 which now passes over that corner. The surviving Baltimore Freight Shed on the south-west corner predates these events, it was part of the former railway complex and is now an athletic club.
  3. ^ a b c d Scharf, John Thomas (1881). History of Baltimore City and County. L.H. Everts. p. 421.
  4. ^ a b Williams, George Huntington (1892). Guide to Baltimore with an account of the geology of its environs. J. Murphy & co. p. 102.
  5. ^ Forrester, Allen E. (1877). The City Hall, Baltimore. History of construction and dedication. City of Baltimore. pp. 136-137, 141. ..the floors are tiled in radiated courses, that of the first floor being of Mosaic pattern of variegated marbles, forming eight-pointed stars, which, starting from the centre and overlying each other, finish at the base of the columns; the whole combination, with its picturesque perspective effect through the arches of the different stories, and the play of light and shade, forming an elegant and finished whole that must be seen to be appreciated.
  6. ^ Alkalay-Gut, Karen (March 2025). "Burying the Mystery: The Grave of Edgar Allen Poe". The Montreal Review. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
  7. ^ a b c Roark, Elisabeth L. (2018). "More than "A Pretty Little Statue": Elizabeth Gray Kennedy's Gravemarker at Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore" (PDF). Maryland Historical Magazine. 113 (2): 174.
  8. ^ a b Lancaster, R. Kent (1979). "Green Mount: The Introduction of the Rural Cemetery Into Baltimore" (PDF). Maryland Historical Magazine. 74 (1): 73.
  9. ^ "Sleeping Children". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 2025-08-01.