A new statue was unveiled on Oct. 25, honoring Arcadian Anita May Baldwin for her efforts in improving Arcadia after its founding in 1903. It is located directly on the side of the property of the Le Méridien Hotel on Huntington Drive and was constructed by Southern Californian artist Alfred Paredes.

This monument has been worked on with great input from many groups, from the Arcadia Historical Society and the City of Arcadia to the descendants of the Baldwin family themselves. It shows the true extent to which Anita Baldwin ran Arcadia after her late father, Elias Jackson “Lucky” Baldwin passed away in 1903.  Being a woman, it was hard for Anita to take her father’s projects, as she faced much discourse and discrimination from the Arcadians in power at the time. Her most famous accomplishment in Arcadia was redeveloping the nationally recognized horse race track, the Santa Anita Racetrack, along with Joseph M. Smoot. This came after the track had closed down and was burned to the ground, making the modernization quite the feat to accomplish. Baldwin also founded a hospital in Los Angeles and allowed some of her family’s land to be used as a training ground for the Ross Field Balloon School during World War I.

The statue, titled, “A Legacy of Charity,” truly shows how much goodwill Baldwin did throughout her life, as well as commemorating someone who changed Arcadia for the better and making many parts of it what it is today. It will sit near the monument of Lucky Baldwin, constructed in 2013, allowing these two figures to be collectively recognized as two parts of a greater whole.

The sculptor tasked with creating this masterpiece was Alfred Paredes, who had already gone and made the Lucky Baldwin statue earlier. He is from Thousand Oaks, a Californian through and through, and had been ready to take this opportunity up with great dignity and respect.

In a public comment, he remarked, “I am once again honored to be given the privilege and challenge of continuing the Baldwin family legacy through the art of public monuments. Anita Baldwin was a woman of great character with a generous and charitable spirit.” This comes amongst his work on many other pieces of work at the same time, such as “Side-by-Cyclops.” He has been proud of his work on the statue and has Anita Baldwin shown sitting down gracefully as she stares in the distance.

Another public statement sent out by current Arcadia mayor Sho Tay was released, saying “We are very excited to be bringing Anita back to Arcadia. I would like to thank the Shen, Liu and Chen Families, Jeff Lee, the Dextra Baldwin McGonagle Foundation, Heather D. Gibson and Margaux L. Gibson, and the Arcadia Historical Society, for their generous donations.”

Clearly, Anita May Baldwin was an influential figure in the history of Arcadia, and is now correctly dignified as such. Her statue, a symbol of her legacy, will live on for the upcoming years, and most probably for decades to come.