Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Samuel Hill was born on May 13, 1857 in North Carolina to a father who was an abolitionist physician and his wife (wow, what a way to describe her). An only child in a Quaker family, they moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota displaced soon after the civil war and where he would grow up. He attended Haverford College, graduating in 1878. Thereafter going to Harvard where he would continue his studies in Latin, Greek, French, and German as well as mathematics, science, English literature, logic, rhetoric, and political science. Receiving his second bachelor's degree in 1879. Being active in their alumni associations long after he attended those institutions.
Returning to Minneapolis he entered into a successful legal practice, winning significant verdicts against James J. Hill's railroads, no relation (which became the Great Northern Railway). James Hill was impressed with his skills, offering Sam jobs in his railroad business, later becoming president or director over a number of Hill’s companies. Sam would marry James’ eldest daughter, Marie, together they would have two children. Their daughter Mary would develop a mental illness and be declared incompetent. Their son James would not live up to his father’s expectations and ambitions, the two would be estranged in the later years of Samuel’s life. He and Marie would live in an estranged marriage, with Sam having 3 children with other women.
The thing about Hill is he's one of those people who pursues something with intensity the moment he puts his mind to it. Besides his skills in law and railroad management he thirsts for knowledge. Traveling the Siberian railroad twice both for investors and for the United States government during the First World War. He went into the utility industry in Seattle, working with Thomas Burke to establish the Seattle Gas and Electric Company.
He would die in 1931 on his way to Oregon, preparing to address the governor and legislature on road infrastructure. He was 63.
One of his lasting legacies and monuments would be the Maryhill Stonehenge Memorial. Hill erroneously believed that the original Stonehenge was constructed as a place of human sacrifice. Concluding there was a parallel between the loss of life in WWI and the sacrifices at ancient Stonehenge, he set out to build a replica on the cliffs of the Columbia as a reminder of those sacrifices and the “incredible folly” of the war.
Surprisingly Queen Marie of Romania would dedicate the memorial, she was a close friend of Hill and would also be at the dedication of the Peace Arch which he constructed. Researching this I found that astonishing since I covered the Peace Arch earlier and was shocked when I read that he also built the Stonehenge. Others involved in his life was Burke, who has a museum on the University of Washington Seattle campus named after him and also served as a Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court. Thomson would be involved in dredging canals connecting the Puget Sound, Lake Union, and Lake Washington; also he would be the city engineer that would flatten many of Seattle’s hills and terrain to enable greater housing and commercial development. So including a Queen of Romania in this man’s interesting life was a shocker and a real showcase of history.
The memorial originally planned to use nearby stone, but it was found to be not suitable. On June 8, 1918 a total eclipse of the sun was predicted, with the best viewing point in the vicinity of Goldendale, Washington. Consequently, some of the best astronomers of the day were in Klickitat County. Professor Campbell, of Lick Observatory at the University of California, agreed to fix the position of the altar stone. The Maryhill Stonehenge doesn’t align exactly with the midsummer sunrise like the Stonehenge in England, but the astronomical horizon. But given the hills nearby it’s difficult to see.
Stonehenge Memorial was completed in 1929 and re-dedicated on Memorial Day of that year. The men honored at Stonehenge are James Henry Allyn, Charles Auer, Dewey V. Bromley, John W. Cheshier, William O. Clary, Evan Childs, James D. Duncan, Harry Gotfredson, Robert F. Graham, Louis Leidl, Carl A. Lester, Edward Lindblad, Henry O. Piendl and Robert F. Venable.
Sources:
Hill, Samuel (1857-1931) - HistoryLink.org
Mission and History | Maryhill Museum of Art | Art Education
"Sam Hill : the prince of Castle Nowhere” by John E. Tuhy
Stonehenge Memorial | Maryhill Museum of Art | Maryhill WA
Samuel Hill was born on May 13, 1857 in North Carolina to a father who was an abolitionist physician and his wife (wow, what a way to describe her). An only child in a Quaker family, they moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota displaced soon after the civil war and where he would grow up. He attended Haverford College, graduating in 1878. Thereafter going to Harvard where he would continue his studies in Latin, Greek, French, and German as well as mathematics, science, English literature, logic, rhetoric, and political science. Receiving his second bachelor's degree in 1879. Being active in their alumni associations long after he attended those institutions.
Returning to Minneapolis he entered into a successful legal practice, winning significant verdicts against James J. Hill's railroads, no relation (which became the Great Northern Railway). James Hill was impressed with his skills, offering Sam jobs in his railroad business, later becoming president or director over a number of Hill’s companies. Sam would marry James’ eldest daughter, Marie, together they would have two children. Their daughter Mary would develop a mental illness and be declared incompetent. Their son James would not live up to his father’s expectations and ambitions, the two would be estranged in the later years of Samuel’s life. He and Marie would live in an estranged marriage, with Sam having 3 children with other women.
The thing about Hill is he's one of those people who pursues something with intensity the moment he puts his mind to it. Besides his skills in law and railroad management he thirsts for knowledge. Traveling the Siberian railroad twice both for investors and for the United States government during the First World War. He went into the utility industry in Seattle, working with Thomas Burke to establish the Seattle Gas and Electric Company.
He would die in 1931 on his way to Oregon, preparing to address the governor and legislature on road infrastructure. He was 63.
One of his lasting legacies and monuments would be the Maryhill Stonehenge Memorial. Hill erroneously believed that the original Stonehenge was constructed as a place of human sacrifice. Concluding there was a parallel between the loss of life in WWI and the sacrifices at ancient Stonehenge, he set out to build a replica on the cliffs of the Columbia as a reminder of those sacrifices and the “incredible folly” of the war.
Surprisingly Queen Marie of Romania would dedicate the memorial, she was a close friend of Hill and would also be at the dedication of the Peace Arch which he constructed. Researching this I found that astonishing since I covered the Peace Arch earlier and was shocked when I read that he also built the Stonehenge. Others involved in his life was Burke, who has a museum on the University of Washington Seattle campus named after him and also served as a Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court. Thomson would be involved in dredging canals connecting the Puget Sound, Lake Union, and Lake Washington; also he would be the city engineer that would flatten many of Seattle’s hills and terrain to enable greater housing and commercial development. So including a Queen of Romania in this man’s interesting life was a shocker and a real showcase of history.
The memorial originally planned to use nearby stone, but it was found to be not suitable. On June 8, 1918 a total eclipse of the sun was predicted, with the best viewing point in the vicinity of Goldendale, Washington. Consequently, some of the best astronomers of the day were in Klickitat County. Professor Campbell, of Lick Observatory at the University of California, agreed to fix the position of the altar stone. The Maryhill Stonehenge doesn’t align exactly with the midsummer sunrise like the Stonehenge in England, but the astronomical horizon. But given the hills nearby it’s difficult to see.
Stonehenge Memorial was completed in 1929 and re-dedicated on Memorial Day of that year. The men honored at Stonehenge are James Henry Allyn, Charles Auer, Dewey V. Bromley, John W. Cheshier, William O. Clary, Evan Childs, James D. Duncan, Harry Gotfredson, Robert F. Graham, Louis Leidl, Carl A. Lester, Edward Lindblad, Henry O. Piendl and Robert F. Venable.
Sources:
Hill, Samuel (1857-1931) - HistoryLink.org
Mission and History | Maryhill Museum of Art | Art Education
"Sam Hill : the prince of Castle Nowhere” by John E. Tuhy
Stonehenge Memorial | Maryhill Museum of Art | Maryhill WA
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