)
Created by a sculptor named Frederick C. Hibbard, this statue of Tom and Huck was commissioned and paid for by George Mahan, who presented it to Hannibal in 1926. Mahan was the person most responsible for Hannibal's ultimate growth into a tourist destination. In the first years of the 20th century he helped capitalize the Mark Twain Hotel; in 1911 he purchased and refurbished the "Mark Twain Boyhood Home," then deeded it to the town; in 1934 he designed and helped pay for the highway markers that identified the Missouri buildings and "sites" made famous in MT's books.
In Tom Sawyer we're told that Tom didn't like to be seen by the respectable adults of St. Petersburg in Huck Finn's company, but for over 75 years this statue has stood at North End of Main Street -- according to promotional literature, "the site of the original 'Cardiff Hill.'"
