By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – The state’s evicting Pierre Menard and Stephen Douglas – their statues, anyway.
The board of the Office of the Architect of the Capitol Wednesday voted unanimously to send the statues of the two historic Illinois figures from the Capitol grounds to storage, now that their slaveowning pasts have been publicized. This is part of a national trend to rid public areas of artwork and imagery having to do with racism, including slavery and the Confederacy.
Architect Andrea Aggertt told the board the two statues would be moved – to a location she wouldn’t disclose – in the next two to three months.
Still to come: removing a Douglas statue and a Douglas portrait from inside the Capitol and moving a Martin Luther King, Jr., statue onto the grounds from across the street. That would require a rules change, though, as King has no specific connection to Illinois.
One board member, Scott Kaiser, has more ideas for King. “I do kind of like that area of the complex, because it has become known as Freedom Corner,” at Second Street and Capitol Avenue, Kaiser said. “It seems to be a nice fit. I would even go a step further and support a re-do; another iteration of that statue.”
The statue depicts King with collar unbuttoned and sport coat flung over his shoulder.
Arggett would not provide an estimate of how much the statue moves would cost.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]
