| The River Horse | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Bronze |
| Location | Washington, D.C., United States |
| 38°53′58″N 77°02′48″W / 38.899491°N 77.04678°W | |
| Owner | George Washington University |
The River Horse is a bronze sculpture of a hippopotamus located on the campus of George Washington University. It is in front of Lisner Auditorium, at 21st Street and H Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C., in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood.[1]
In 1996, George Washington University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg presented this bronze statue as a gift to the University's Class of 2000. The hippo stands with its mouth wide. Its nose is slightly worn due to passersby rubbing it. A plaque is placed on the base:
- Legend has it that the Potomac was once home to these wondrous beasts.
- George & Martha Washington are even said to have watched them cavort in
- the river shallows from the porch of their beloved Mount Vernon on summer evenings.
- Credited with enhancing the fertility of the plantation, the Washingtons believed
- the hippopotamus brought them good luck & children on the estate often attempted
- to lure the creatures close enough to the shore to touch a nose for good luck.
- So, too, may generations of students of the George Washington University.
- Art for wisdom,
- Science for joy,
- Politics for beauty,
- And a Hippo for hope.
- The George Washington University Class of 2000
- August 28, 1996[2]
The hippopotamus is not native to North America. President Trachtenberg admitted he invented the story. He said that, for fun, he made up a story that George Washington watched hippos swim in the Potomac River.[3]
According to Mary V. Thompson, research Historian at the Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, George Washington did explore the possibility of purchasing a piece of agricultural equipment known as a Hippopotamus, which he hoped would efficiently remove nutrient-rich soil from the Potomac to be used as fertilizer for his fields.