“I am shocked and dismayed at this turn of events. Morris has long stood as a fixture to welcome all who come to Tryon, ‘The friendliest town in the South.’ We will do our best to bring Morris home, but we’ll need everyone’s help in doing so,” Davis said.
Alan Peoples, the town’s mayor, was more precise, “The town needs to come together to help meet the kidnapper’s demands, we have lost not only a landmark and symbol but a good friend.”
Morris, the Tryon Horse, was first created as a larger version of a popular child’s pull toy that was sold by the internationally famed “Tryon Toymakers and Woodcarvers,” a business owned by Eleanor Vance and Charlotte Yale.
The Tryon Riding and Hunt Club commissioned the studio to create Morris, originally 17’ high, to participate in a parade celebrating the club’s annual Tryon Horse Show. A pair of neophyte carvers was put on the job and he was completed in 1928. Once retired from parades, Morris was put to pasture at the corners of Trade Street and Pacolet, and he quickly became world famous as the town’s symbol, and a beacon welcoming people to ‘The friendliest town in the South.’ The now-missing Morris is the fourth to preside there.
In 2011, The Tryon Riding and Hunt Club, officially donated Morris to the Town of Tryon, and just last year he received a historical marker signifying his importance as the town’s landmark.
In the last few years, Morris has fallen into disrepair, but other needs precluded his repair and maintenance.
One of the requests from the kidnappers is that the Tryon Daily Bulletin post their demands every week on Friday.
Will you help Save Morris?
– article submitted