The "Artistic Squire Of Columbia" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about an artist who lived in the small town of Columbia, Pennsylvania.  You may remember the town for being called Wright's Ferry or perhaps for the terminus of the Pennsylvania Canal or maybe the home of the Native American tribes, the Susquehannocks and the Shawnee.  

Lloyd Mifflin, artistic squire of Columbia, PA

Doesn't matter anyway, since I'm almost sure you have never heard of Lloyd Mifflin who has been described as the "artistic squire" of Columbia, Pennsylvania.  Lloyd was born on September 15, 1846.  His father had trained as a portraiture painter and in turn passed his training onto his son, Lloyd.  Lloyd later studied landscape painting and engraving under Thomas Moran in Philadelphia from 1866 to 1870.  Then in 1971 he descended the Susquehanna River from its source at Lake Otsego to the Chesapeake Bay, producing a large number of sketches along the way.  A year later he set out on a European tour, traveling with the famed art critic James Jackson Jarves as they traveled from Liverpool to Italy.  

Painting titled " Looking down Susquehanna below Columbia

A large collection of his work appears today at The State Museum of Pennsyl- vania and includes works such as "Rome Burning", "Castle at Sunset" and "Susquehanna Near Columbia".  During his career he also created hundreds of photographic glass plate negatives that served as photographic studies for his landscape paintings.  

Painting titled "Susquehanna near Columbia"

But, it was his childhood love of poetry that was first kindled by Lord Byron and refined by Keats, Tennyson, Shelley, Wordsworth, Longfellow and the Greek poets that made him famous.  In 1896 he offered his first book of poetry titled "The Hills" and consisted of sixteen verses that was illustrated by Thomas Moran.  The following year his second book, titled "At the Gates of Song" and contained 150 sonnets went through three printings.  Nine more books followed over the next fifteen years.  Lloyd suffered a stroke in 1915 while completing poems for his final book appropriately entitled "As Twilight Falls", resulting on an amazing output of more than 500 sonnets and at least 200 lyrics.  He died in July of 1921.  Before his death, he donated considerable land  for school use in Columbia, PA.  

Flowers sit in front of Mr. Lloyd Mifflin's grave.  Click to enlarge.

He was known as America's Greatest Sonneteer as well as "the most prolific writer of sonnets in the history of English and American poetry.  Quite a feat!  His home in Columbia, PA was known as Norwood which he greatly enlarged in 1902.  Upon his death the home descended to the three Minich sisters, Loretta R., Grace M. and Elizabeth who were teachers or administrators in the Columbia School District where Lloyd went to school as a child.  

The Mifflin family's tombstones stand
in a line with flowers in front of them.

When the sisters and Lloyd's brother, Dr. Houston Mifflin, tried to sell some of Lloyd's paintings in 1926 there was little interest by the public.  During this period Houston marked many of Lloyd's paintings with Lloyd Mifflin - Attest Houston Mifflin.  At the same time the Minich sisters cut up parts of some of Lloyd's larger canvases and gave the small pieces away to their students as rewards for perfect attendance or good grades.  Grace and Loretta eventually donated the rest of the collection to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission which held a Lloyd Mifflin retrospective soon after opening the new William Penn Memorial Museum in 1965.  Today I made a visit to Mifflin's grave at Bethel Cemetery off Locust Street in downtown Columbia.  I wanted to see what has become a tradition with the school children in Columbia.  When he died and donated land to the school district, he asked that the students in the Columbia School District commemorate his birthday every year by placing roses at his and his mother's graves.  This past September 14, a day early due to the 15th being a Saturday, students gathered at Mifflin's gravesite to carry out his wishes for the 98th time.   And, when I stopped today for a few photos, the roses were still by the graves and still bright red!  An amazing remembrance for an amazing artist and poet.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

A plaque telling about one of Columbia's most prominent citizens.

An enlarged reading of the plaque telling of Mr. Mifflin.