The pilot has come in for a landing. In this case, the pilot is the famous aviator Amelia Earhart (or her replica in the form of a bronze statue), and her landing place isn’t an airport – it’s the nation’s capitol.
Amelia Earhart was recently honored by the State of Kansas by having her statue placed in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol building.
Statuary Hall is that area of the capitol that displays statues depicting people representing all 50 states. Each state is authorized to send two statues to this collection. Kansas recently replaced one of its statues with one of Amelia Earhart, who captured the world’s attention as a pioneer in aviation.
With support from the Atchison Amelia Earhart Foundation, her statue was unveiled in the National Statuary Collection in July, 2022.
Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison on July 24, 1897. She must have been quite the adventurous child. One time she and friends built a homemade roller coaster by greasing boards with lard and suspending them from the top of a toolshed. Amelia made the trial run on this roller coaster in a wooden crate and crashed part way down.
She came up with a torn dress and split lip but a big smile, proclaiming, “Oh! It’s just like flying!”
