Thomas Church Brownell is a bronze statue of Trinity President Thomas Brownell designed by Chauncey Ives, and is located on the Main Quad. The statue stands 10 feet and 6 inches tall, and portrays Brownell dressed in a clerical gown with his left hand holding a prayer book and his right arm outstretched as if pronouncing a blessing.

Chauncey B. Ives was an American neoclassical sculptor who was active from the 1840s until the post Civil War era. He blended the styles of neoclassiscm and 19th century naturalism, both of which are evident in the Brownell statue.

Following Brownell’s death in 1865, his son-in-law Gordon Burnham commissioned Ives to create a statue of the former president. This was originally intended to be a memorial statue that would be placed on Brownell’s grave in Cedar Hills cemetery, Hartford. Ives began his work in 1866 while in Rome. In order to capture the man’s likeness, Ives worked with a portrait bust he had made of Brownell in 1860. This bust now resides with the New York Historical Society.

In 1868, the statue was transferred to Munich Germany to be cast in bronze in the foundry of Ferdinand von Miller. In the same year, the finished statue was sent to Hartford. This is when Burnham made the decision to make it a gift to Trinity’s Trustees, rather than place it at Brownell’s grave. The official dedication was delayed until 1989, when the school was able to get a pedestal to place the statue on. The pedestal is 15 feet tall and carved out of Quincy granite.

A ceremony was held on November 11, 1869 during the statues unveiling at its original location on Old Campus, overlooking Bushnell Park. When Trinity moved to Summit Campus in 1878, the statue was re-erected on the Main Quad where it stands now, adjacent to Long Walk.

Text taken from Thomas Church Brownell Public Art CT Trinity College Walking Tour