GOETHALS' MEMORIAL DEDICATION PROGRAM
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Situated at the foot of the Administration Building steps and facing the palm-lined Prado in Balboa, the Goethals Momument is an impressive reminder of the famous Canal builder. It is built of white Vermont marble and rises 56 feet high from a reflecting pool, 65 feet wide. Water flows constantly from three marble basins on either side of the shaft into the pool below. It is symbolic in concept. The shaft represents the Continental Divide and the basins on the two sides symbolize the Atlantic and Pacific Locks from which the waters of Gatun lake flow to unite the two oceans.

The memorial was erected under authority granted by an Act of Congress, approved August 24, 1935, for which $160,000 was appropriated by Congress. It was designed by Shaw, Metz & Dolio, architectural firm of Chicago, Ill., with Mendez and Sander, of Panama, as associate architects. The monument was erected by Constructora Martinez, S.A., of Panama, and was completed in August 1953.

GEORGE WASHINGTON GOETHALS
Soldier - Engineer - Patriot

1858 June 29 -- Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of John and Marie Baron Goethals.
1873-76 Attended City College of New York.
1876 June 12 -- Entered United States Military Academy
1880 June 12 -- Graduated second in his class from MilitaryAcademy.
1880-1882 Student officer at Engineer School of Application, Ft. Totten, N.Y.
1882-84 Engineer officer, Dept. of Columbia, Washington Territory.
1884 Married Miss Effie Rodman in New Bedford, Mass.
1884-85 Assistant to Engineer in charge of Ohio River improvements.
1885-89 Instructor and later Assistant professor in Civil engineering at Military Academy.
1886 March 4 -- George Rodman Goethals born at West Point.
1889-91 Assistant Engineer on design of locks and dams on Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers.
1890 December 14 -- Thomas Rodman Goethals born in New Bedford, Mass.
1891-94 Assistant Engineer in charge of Tennessee River improvements.
1894-98 Assistant to the Chief of Engineers.
1898 Served as Lieutenant Colonel of Volunteers in Spanish-American War.
1898-1900 Instructor at Military Academy.
1900-03 Engineer Officer in charge of fortifications, river, and harbor work, Newport, R.I.
1903-07 Member of Temporary and First General Staff, Washington, D.C.
1907-1914 Chairman and Chief Engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission
1914-17 Governor of The Panama Canal.
1915 Promoted to Major General and received the thanks of Congress for distinguished service in building the Panama Canal.
1916 November 16 -- Retired from the U.S. Army at own request.
1917 January 17 -- Resigned as Governor of The Panama Canal.
1917 April to July -- General Manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation
1917 December 18 -- Recalled to active Army duty and appointed Acting Quartermaster General, U.S. Army.
1918-19 Chief of the Division of Purchase, Storage, and Traffic, U. S. Army; member of War Industries Board.
1919 March -- Relieved of active duty with Army at own request.
1919-28 President of George W. Goethals and Company,   New York engineering firm; Advisor and Consulting Engineer ot the Port of New York Authority.
1928 January 21-- Died at 12 East 86th Street, New York City.

"He fulfilled the ancient dream of a highway between the Atlantic and Pacific and thereby transformed forever the geographic relations of the commercial world."

THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK.

Many Thanks extended to Lance Terell, CHS 59 --
for the copies of the Goethals Memorial Dedication Program

Presented by CZBrats
December 2, 1998
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