The statue, located in the city's Bushnell Park, was designed by sculptor Truman Howe Bartlett and dedicated in 1875 in honor of Horace Wells, a dentist who was a pioneer in the use of anesthesia.

[2] In 1874,[2] a joint group composed of the ADA, the Connecticut General Assembly, the Connecticut State Dental Commission, Medical Society of New York, and the city government of Hartford commissioned sculptor Truman Howe Bartlett to create a statue in honor of Wells.

[3] Three local doctors and dentists (James McManus, Henry P. Stearns, and Hartford Medical Society founding member Ebenezer Kingsbury Hunt) lobbied both the city and state for funding and received $10,000 split evenly between the city and state governments for creating the statue.

[5] The statue is one of several monuments and memorials in honor of Wells throughout Hartford, which include a bronze plaque near the Old State House and a portrait painting by Charles Noel Flagg in the Wadsworth Atheneum.

Signatures from the foundry (Gruet Jne Fdeur) and sculptor (T. H. BARTLETT / PARIS / 1874) are located on the bronze base of the sculpture, while the front of the pedestal bears the following inscription: HORACE WELLS / THE DISCOVERER OF / ANAESTHESIA.