39. The SAMUEL SPENCER MONUMENT, 

facing the plaza of the Terminal Station, NW. corner Spring and Mitchell Sts., was erected on May 21, 1910. The seated bronze figure is the work of the renowned sculptor Daniel Chester French.

Spencer, who was born in 1847 in Columbus, Georgia, received a degree in civil engineering from the University of Virginia in 1869 and immediately entered the field of railroading. His first position was with the Savannah & IVIemphis Railroad, and within ten years he had become president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. In 1894, when the Southern Railway System was organized, he became its first president and was consequently a vital influence in the economic development of the South. Throughout his career Spencer was a leading spokesman for all American railroads and he was noted for his fiery opposition to legislative rate regulation. He was killed in 1906 in a collision of two trains on his own railroad. The monument was erected through funds contributed by employees of the Southern Railway System.

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