Quincy in Norfolk County, Massachusetts — The American Northeast (New England)

Solomon Willard

Photographed by G.W.Bartlett, August 17, 2025

1. Solomon Willard Memorial Marker

Inscription. Solomon Willard
Architect and Builder
Bunker Hill Monument
"Posterity ought to know that they are
more indebted to Solomon Willard than
to any other person for the monument"
Amos Lawrence, President
Bunker Hill Monument Association
Tablet given by Willard Family Association
August 24, 1940

Erected 1940 by Bunker Hill Monument Association and The Willard Family Association.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Patriots & Patriotism. A significant historical date for this entry is June 17, 1843.

Location. 42° 14.779′ N, 71° 1.652′ W. Marker is in Quincy, Massachusetts, in Norfolk County. It can be reached from Crescent Street west of Cross Street, on the right when traveling west. Located in Hall Place Cemetery. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Quincy MA 02169, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Historic Boston and specifically in Greater Boston.

It is also in the American Northeast

and in New England.

Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once one of the original Thirteen Colonies.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: John Winthrop Jr. Iron Furnace (within shouting distance of this marker); Solomon Willard Gravesite (within shouting distance of this marker); John Winthrop Jr. Iron Furnace / Solomon Willard (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Granite Railway Incline

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(approx. 0.4 miles away); The Granite Railway (approx. 0.4 miles away); Old House (approx. 1.1 miles away); John Adams (approx. 1.2 miles away); Burns (approx. 1.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Quincy.

More about this marker. The plaque was added 1940 by Willard Family Association. The pillar itself was placed by Solomon Willard in 1840, when he laid out this cemetery. Signage with details about memorial to the right / southeast of the cemetery down the stairs immediately after entering. Gravesite is immediately to the right upon entering at Southeast corner of graveyard.

Regarding Solomon Willard. Solomon Willard (1783-1861) - architect, master artisan, builder of the Bunker Hill Monument (the nation's first battle memorial), and a father of the Quincy granite industry. Solomon Willard designed and supervised construction of the Bunker Hill Monument, made of Quincy granite. Begun in 1825 (when Lafayette laid the cornerstone), the Monument was dedicated on June 17, 1843 by Daniel Webster. Willard's efforts in Quincy changed granite quarrying and finishing into a major industry, and Quincy granite

Solomon Willard Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by G.W.Bartlett, August 17, 2025

2. Solomon Willard Marker

(engraved in the granite, above the plaque) Solomon Willard
June 26, 1783
February 27, 1861

became internationally famous.

Faced with the unprecedented challenge of erecting a stone obelisk over 220 feet tall, he cut costs by quarrying his own granite, leading to the establishment of several quarries in nearby West Quincy, Massachusetts, as well as a railway to transport the heavy stone. Special machinery devised by Willard allowed him to use larger blocks of granite than had previously been possible. His preference for working with granite on this massive scale influenced his designs for monuments in and around Boston, resulting in a severe style of architecture later dubbed the Boston Granite Style.

Solomon Willard was a polymath who devoted himself to a wide range of pursuits: carpentry, sculpture, architecture, geology, chemistry, and agriculture, among them. Although he spent most of his career in Massachusetts, from 1810 to 1818 he also sought professional opportunities in the mid-Atlantic region, where he met and worked with a number of prominent architects. While in the mid-Atlantic region he provided Charles Bulfinch with a carved wooden architectural model of the U.S. Capitol, as well as presentation drawings and working plans based on Benjamin Henry Latrobe's designs.

Willard was also responsible for a number of funerary monuments and cemetery projects, including a fifteen-foot obelisk for the monument to John Harvard (1607–1638)

Photographed by G.W.Bartlett, August 17, 2025

3. Solomon Willard Marker

in the Phipps Street Burial Ground in Charleston (1828) and a twenty-five-foot granite obelisk marking the graves of Benjamin Franklin’s parents in the Granary Burying Ground in Boston (1827), where Willard also designed a new granite wall and Egyptian revival gateway (1831; erected 1840). In approximately 1840, Willard laid out the grounds of the Hall Place cemetery in Quincy and erected this thirty-ton column there, reportedly depositing a set of stonecutter’s tools in the top of the shaft.

Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker.

Also see . . .
1. Solomon Willard - National Gallery of Art. (Submitted on August 20, 2025, by Michael Herrick of Southbury, Connecticut.)
2. Solomon Willard (Wikipedia). (Submitted on August 20, 2025, by Michael Herrick of Southbury, Connecticut.)

Additional keywords. Mason Masonic

Credits. This page was last revised on August 22, 2025. It was originally submitted on August 18, 2025, by G.W.Bartlett of Hingham, Massachusetts. This page has been viewed 103 times since then and 26 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on August 18, 2025, by G.W.Bartlett of Hingham, Massachusetts. • Michael Herrick was the editor who published this page.