Possible return of bronze statue to 18th and Calumet controversial
By Miriam Cintrón
The City of Chicago is
filled with history, from its architecture to the very ground Chicagoans
walk on. The park at 18th Street and Calumet Avenue in the South
Loop, now bordered by recently constructed townhouses and condominiums, was
the setting of a significant yet little known part of Chicago history. On
that corner 195 years ago, a group of American soldiers and civilians,
including women and children, fought a band of Potawatomi Indians at the
start of the War of 1812.
Now, advocates and opponents of a statue commemorating that battle are waging one of their own.
During the War of 1812, as fighting between the British and Americans raged, the British urged their Native American allies to attack American forts. With unrest all around, Captain Nathan Heald, the American commander at Fort Dearborn (at what is now the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive), was ordered to evacuate the fort and head to Fort Wayne, IN.
On the morning of Aug. 15, 1812, about 100 soldiers and settlers began the journey to Indiana. As they proceeded along the lake they fought a group of 500 Potawatomi and other Native Americans nearly two miles south of the fort. Half the American soldiers and settlers were killed, with the other half taken prisoner. The fort was burned to the ground.
Native American chiefs had warned the Americans of the planned attack, but their tip went unheeded. One was Potawatomi chief Black Partridge, who had been friendly with the American settlers at Fort Dearborn and advised Native Americans to preserve their lands using peaceful methods.
Black Partridge could not prevent the attack, but several historic accounts note he was able to save some settlers, including an American officer’s wife named Margaret Helm.
The attack and Black Partridge’s heroism were commemorated 81 years later when railroad car manufacturer George Pullman commissioned a monument called "The Fort Dearborn Massacre: Black Partridge Saving Mrs. Helm." The bronze statue on a marble base features Black Partridge shielding Margaret Helm from an Indian armed with a tomahawk. On the other side of the statue, a Native American drives a spear into a downed man.
It was installed near Pullman’s mansion near 18th and Calumet, the presumed site of the attack. The statue remained there for nearly four decades and then was moved to other locations over the years before being put into storage by the Office of Public Art of the City’s Department of Cultural Affairs.
Now, nearly 200 years after the battle, this part of history intrigued Mark Kieras, chair of the Historic and Educational Committee of the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance (PDNA) and a resident of the historic Prairie Avenue District for the past four years. Kieras is leading the PDNA’s effort to name the park at 18th and Calumet after Black Partridge and return the statue to its original site.
After learning the park had not officially been named, Kieras asked area residents for name suggestions and submitted them to the Chicago Park District. Citing its goal of naming more parks after women, the Park District replied they were leaning more toward naming the park after Chicago poet Harriet Monroe. Feeling the name should reflect the historic nature of the area, Kieras, a few neighbors, and resident historians continued brainstorming names before hitting upon Black Partridge Park, a name Kieras feels honors the chief and that important day in history.
As for restoring the
114-year-old monument, Kieras will not ask the Park District for the
estimated $100,000 to $150,000 it will take. “We as a community are
initially going to try to come up with funding solutions and not be looking
to the Park District,” Kieras explained.
Kieras has submitted the name suggestion to the Chicago Park District’s Board of Commissioners on behalf of the PDNA; he has not received an answer yet. The board’s decision may be affected by concern over possible negative public reaction to a statue that has seen its share of controversy in the past.
The PDNA’s effort to name the park after Black Partridge and bring the statue back has received support from Preservation Chicago, the Glessner House Museum, the Historic Pullman Foundation, and others. American Indian Center Executive Director Joseph Podlasek also supports the name but is “adamantly opposed to the statue.”
“Our elders worked hard to have that removed,” Podlasek said of Native Americans’ fight to have the monument taken off display at the Chicago Historical Society in the 1970s. The statue was “properly put into storage,” he added.
For Podlasek, the statue represents an era that “was not a great time in history.” He hopes a contemporary sculpture could instead be erected at the park. “There should be a new piece of artwork that represents where we are today,” he said.
Kieras recognizes Podlasek’s view but insists the monument is the best way to educate people about a part of Chicago history. “I understand that Native Americans may not have been well represented in the past, but I feel this is an opportunity to focus on a positive act during what has been perceived as a negative event in history,” Kieras said. “I truly believe today people will embrace the statue for what it is, an heroic act by Black Partridge who advocated peace, not war.”
Preservation Chicago Vice President Michael Moran agreed, saying, “We are aware of the concern regarding the statue, however, the good of having this historic, educational, and beautiful piece of art in public view outweighs other concerns. The massacre happened. It was real. We should not sweep these things under the rug.
“The role of Black Partridge in this event is embodied in the statue in a very respectful way,” he went on. “It is a stunning piece of work.”
Kieras and Moran are eager to continue discussions with the Native American community, including the Michigan-based Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, who claim Chicago as their ancestral land.
“We want to sit with them and have a meaningful and open conversation taking into
account their perspective as well as expressing our vision,” Kieras said.
As for the American Indian Center, Podlasek said, “We’re open to discussion as long as it doesn’t involve the statue.”
The statue issue is not likely to disappear, however. Brian Hosmer, director of the D'Arcy McNickel Center for American Indian History at the Newberry Library and associate professor of history at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), weighed in by saying bringing the statue to the park "would be an unfortunate thing to do. The statue re-confirms the sterotype of the savage Indian," he said, citing the statue's barely-clothed Native Americans. "It should be in storage, in my view."
Hosmer added that the statue is and examples of "non-Indians taking" Indian history "for themselves and laying claim to a version of the past" that may not ring grue.
In Hosmer's view, the PDNA should instead collaborate with Native Americans to come up with another way to commemorate Native American history in Chicago.
Kieras suspects the statue may not win everyone over, but he seems certain it can both honor the past and educate those who wish to learn.
“Although the statue may be unsettling to some upon initial viewing, once people understand what it represents they'll appreciate Black Partridge's heroic efforts in a turbulent and violent time in history,” Kieras said.
