Collyer Monument is an historic monument to firefighters in Mineral Spring Park, at the corner of Mineral Spring Avenue and Main Street, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States. The monument was built in 1890 by the sculptor Charles Parker Dowler to honor Samuel Smith Collyer, a fallen Pawtucket Fire Chief. The life-size bronze sculpture stands atop a pedestal of Westerly granite which contains a bronze plaque showing the fatal accident and the reverse bears the inscription. The Collyer Monument represents a significant example of monumental work of the period and an early example of local civic pride. The monument was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.Samuel CollyerSamuel Smith Collyer was born on May 3, 1832 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. After his schooling, he took a job at the Pawtucket Post Office as a clerk and later was a store clerk in a shop. He became a machinist and worked for a period of about seven years before becoming a partner in his uncle, Nathan S. Collyer. When Nathan Collyer died in 1877, the business passed to his wife and then to Samuel Collyer upon her death in 1879. Collyer would maintain control of the business until his death and he would serve on the board of water commissioners in charge of the development of the Pawtucket Water Works. He also played an active role in local administration as a member of the Town Council of North Providence, serving as its president for a period of three years. From 1848 to his death, Collyer was connected to the fire departments of North Providence and Pawtucket, rising to the rank of Chief Engineer in 1874. In 1851, he married Ellen Whipple and they would later have one daughter, Mary Collyer.
