Two bronze lanterns flank the Front Street entrance to the Cotton Exchange. Photo by Si Cantwell.
The two bronze lanterns were originally in front of the Custom House building in the early 1900s, now known as the Alton Lennon Federal Building, according to Nancy J. Bullock, general manager of the The Cotton Exchange/Chandler’s Wharf/Front Street Centre.
The story, according to an interview with historian Janet Seapker recorded in the booklet “Saving the Cotton Exchange,” is that a man from St. Paul’s Lutheran Church contacted Joe Reaves, one of The Cotton Exchange developers, and told him there were a couple of lanterns out in the field behind the Board of Education on 13th Street. He said there were vines growing over them and he was afraid they would be damaged beyond repair.
Joe Reaves and Mal Murray received permission from the city — which received permission from the federal government — to move the lanterns to the sidewalk at the Front Street entrance to The Cotton Exchange. It took a forklift to move them.
RELATED LINKS:
Is the Cotton Exchange haunted? Was there a fire?
Why are there brick semi-circles in the pavement on Front Street at the Cotton Exchange?
Date posted: May 16, 2014
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