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After an exhaustive search, Joe Wider of Pinehouse Design was chosen and commissioned to design, produce and direct the Legacy Workers' Monument in Morganton, to be unveiled in the Spring of 2023. On the grounds of the History Museum of Burke County , a permanent iconic monument, Dignity of Work, will be installed to pay homage to the hard working Mill Workers of Burke County,

representing the textile, furniture and hosiery industries. 

 

After viewing one of his other monument designs for the  historic mills of Granby, Olympia and Whaley Street in Columbia South Carolina, in above photo, the Workers' Legacy team knew he was the right person

for this most important project.

 

Joe and his team designed the above monument to provide a larger than life-size impression of the mill worker experience. The Fales & Jenks spinning frames, used in the mills up until the1930s, are in silhouette cut out of 1/2 inch Corten (rusting) steel. The larger-than-life-size mill workers are porcelain enamel panels, details taken from Lewis Hine’s famous Child Labor Photos from 1919.

 

The sculpture is 22 feet long, 10 feet high, and weighs over 5 tons.

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How fortunate we are to have Joe and his dedicated team working with us!

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