COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — City leaders, through work with historians and architects and engagement with community members, will again wrestle with what to do about the towering statue of the man the city is named after.
The conversations will be part of the Reimagining Columbus project, an overarching initiative the city announced to “promote diversity in the city’s public art,” according to a news release from the mayor’s office.
A grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for $2 million will fund the undertaking of how, when and where to bring back the statue, which sat in front of Columbus City Hall until summer 2020, when Mayor Andrew Ginther signed a directive to have it taken down and stored.
Members of council voted Monday night on a $750,000 contract with Designing Local for the effort, the first money to be directly allocated from the grant fund.
But wherever it eventually goes, the statue won’t be back at City Hall, according to a spokesperson for the city’s department of development.
The Monuments Project, under the umbrella of the foundation, announced grants for eight other cities, including Boston, Chicago, Denver and San Francisco.
“Their goals, and their main focus, is on equity and the arts,” Councilmember Emmanuel Remy said. “What does that mean, and what do you do when you have a situation like Christopher Columbus?”
History of statue
Italian sister city Genoa gave the city the more than 20-foot statue in 1955. Columbus was most likely from Genoa, historians have said, although nearby Spain sponsored the 1492 voyage when he encountered the Americas. More recently, his legacy has been reevaluated regarding the effect colonization had on indigenous people and charges of brutality against Columbus himself.
Columbus’ statue faced Broad Street in front of City Hall until 2020. In the throes of protests against police brutality and racism, cities across the country began to reckon with statues of historical figures — although, unlike Columbus, many of those were Confederate symbols.
Service workers removed the metal Columbus by July 2020.
Council briefly mulled legislation last July to hire a consultant for $253,000 to facilitate conversations about how to reinstall the statue, but tabled the ordinance indefinitely after receiving a slew of comments both for and against the proposal.
City announces additional art investments
Beyond the $2 million grant, the mayor’s office said the city would commit another $1.5 million toward public art in and around City Hall.
The Greater Columbus Arts Council will lead additional work on public art projects around the city through another initiative called “Greater Columbus. Greater Art.” Columbus City Council voted for $250,000 for a public art master plan in October 2022.
Remy, who sits on the board, said the prospect is exciting. “We don’t have a plan for anything, and so we’ve had limited public arts contributions within our community,” he said.
Watch the July 2020 removal of the Christopher Columbus statue from Columbus City Hall in the video above.