Contemporary heroes: Three (non-Revolutionary) statues to visit in Boston

[Flickr/Hi-Plains Drifter]

Boston is known for having housed some of the Revolutionary War’s most heroic dignitaries, and there’s no shortage of statues built in this city to commemorate their greatness. But not all statues in Boston go as far back as the 18th century – there are plenty that honor folks from recent history as well! Here are three contemporary figures that have found a place among the city’s many effigies, and are definitely worth a stop on any historical tour:

Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach – Coach and general manager of the Boston Celtics Basketball Team for over 29 years, during which he amassed 16 NBA Championships and was voted one of the ten best NBA coaches of all time. Auerbach was famous for lighting up his celebratory cigar in Boston Garden when it became apparent that the Celtics had the game in hand. Though he died in 2006, his image lives on in Quincy Market, where he sits (cigar in hand) on a bench at the market’s southwestern end, just steps from the Marriott Custom House Hotel.

Kevin White – Mayor of Boston from 1968 to 1984, he was the first mayor to take office in the newly opened City Hall, which had been designed in the unpopular Brutalist style. The standing joke is to note which way White is walking – very quickly away from City Hall. His statue (the only larger-than-life statue in the city) is located slightly north of Faneuil Hall, at the corner of Congress and North Streets – just across from the Millennium Bostonian hotel.

James Michael Curley – Was mayor of Boston for four terms, and also served three terms in the House of Representatives, one term as Governor of Massachusetts, and one term in the Massachusetts House of Correction. Curley was convicted of fraud for taking a Civil Service Exam in place of one of his constituents, which made him a hero in the eyes of the working class. His two statues stand across from City Hall, one standing as if giving a speech (his “mayoral” pose) and the one sitting on a bench behind it (as a “man of the people”).

– Alan Maltzman of BostonCityWalks.com