Elizabeth Cady Stanton, seated, and Susan B. Anthony. Photo via Library of Congress.

The process to bring the first statue of an historic woman to Central Park moved ahead this week, as the Statue Fund chose its four finalists to construct the statue.

In addition, the Girl Scouts have been giving their money from selling cookies to the fund to get the project off the ground. The Girl Scouts of Greater New York Troop 3746 gave $5,000 and Troop 3484 gave $1,920, a symbolic number to commemorate the year women won the right to vote.

The finalists will submit their models for the statue, and the winner will be announced in July. The  statue is set to be unveiled in 2020 on the Mall, the wide walkway in the middle of the park that stretches from 66th to 72nd Street.

The Mall in Central Park. Photo by Carol Tannenhauser.

The finalists are:

·         Meredith Bergmann – Examples of past work: Boston Women’s Memorial (Abigail Adams, Phillis Wheatley and Lucy Stone), Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA; FDR Hope Memorial, Roosevelt Island, NYC; Marian Anderson, Converse College, Spartanburg, SC; Memorial to Countee Cullen, Bronx Council on the Arts, NYC; September 11th Memorial, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC; and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in collections of Justice Ginsburg and Columbia University

·         Jane DeDecker – Examples of past work: Amelia Earhart, Amelia Earhart Elementary School, Alameda, CA; Emily Dickinson, Converse College, Spartanburg, SC; Sister Catherine McAuley, Mercy Hospital, St. Louis, MO; Harriet Tubman, Clinton Presidential Library, Little Rock, AK; and Sherlock Holmes, Public Safety Center, Edmond, OK

·         Victoria Guerina and Lloyd Lillie – Examples of past work: The First Wave, Women’s Rights Convention of 1848 project, 11 of 20 life-size bronze historical portraits and figures for the Women’s Rights Museum, Seneca Falls, NY (including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia and James Mott, Jane and Richard Hunt, Maryanne and Thomas McClintock); Martin Richard Memorial, Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA; and Katherine Lee Bates, Falmouth, MA 

·         Ann Hirsch – Examples of past work: Anna Bissell, Grand Rapids Community Legends, Grand Rapids, MI; Bill Russell Legacy Project, Phase 1 and Phase 2, City Hall Plaza, Boston, MA; Saint Walking (St. Ignatius of Loyola), Walsh Jesuit High School, Cuyahoga Falls, OH; Home, Patriot Plaza, Sarasota National Cemetery, Sarasota, FL; and Stanley Ketchel, Grand Rapids Community Legends, Grand Rapids, MI