Submitted by: Dick Sanford, Sep 21, 2005
Additional info and photos added by: Jim Donnelly, Jul 7, 2005

This large brownstone eagle statue once perched atop the old New Bedford Post Office, which was built between 1891 and 1893. When that facility was torn down in 1955, a business owner, Hyman Krivoff, bought the statue and paid for its removal. Mr Krivoff later sold the the statue to Basil Brewer, the publisher of the New Bedford Standard Times newspaper.

The name "Mr. Steadfast" was the winning entry in a "Name the Eagle" contest started by Mr. Brewer in 1955. The contest was open only to children in grades 1 through 8. A New Bedford student, J. Gordon Edge Jr., submitted the name. It was selected from over 1,000 entries.

The statue was on display at the corner of Union and Seventh streets from 1955 to 1963.

When a new television studio opened in 1963 (WTEV Channel 6, now WLNE 6 in Providence, RI), Mr. Steadfast was moved to the front of the studio's building on County Street. During the years Channel 6 operated out of New Bedford, Mr Steadfast served as a signature piece for the station. When the Channel 6 studio moved to Providence, the City of New Bedford took possession of the statue for repairs and storage while waiting for a new location.

Shortly after the New Bedford historic district's designation as the Whaling National Historical Park, then-Mayor Rosemary S. Tierney designated a new mission for Mr. Steadfast. In 1997, city masons and Department of Public works employees constructed a fluted pedestal with a granite and marble base at the entrance to the park.

On his new perch, Mr. Steadfast provides the official welcome to The New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.

Located at the intersection of the JFK Highway and Elm Street in New Bedford, this Eagle sculpture sits atop a column about 10 feet tall. The accompanying plaque informs us:

This American Eagle, adopted as the symbol of television station WTEV at its inaugural program on January 1, 1963 reigned atop the old New Bedford Post Office from 1891 to 1955.

The eagle was named "Mr. Steadfast" in 1956 by J. Gordon Edge, Jr., winner of a Standard Times contest.

The American eagle has been the emblem of the United States of America since 1782.

Submitted by Jim Donnelly

When I worked at WTEV in late 1974 / early 1975, several of the cameramen / engineers resented the mandatory wearing of neckties. When four of us were bounced in a "reverse seniority layoff" in March of 1975, our final act of defiance was wrapping our neckties around Mr. Steadfast's neck and burning them.

Mr. Steadfast survived the ordeal unscathed.