City of Battle Creek Removes Irving Park Indian Statue
You might not have noticed, but the Native American statue at Irving Park is gone. City crews removed it earlier this week, by order of City Manager Rebecca Fleury. The six-foot-tall statue has been on a five-foot-tall fieldstone pedestal, just a few hundred feet away from the nearly 500-year-old white Oak at Irving Park for the last 56 years.
Fleury said there are several reasons for having the statue moved into storage. Paint is peeling badly from it and Fleury said she’d heard from several citizens and city staff over the past couple of years suggesting that it needed considerable maintenance. “There were also concerns about kids playing on it, which isn’t safe,” said Fleury. She said she also heard from the local tribe, who had concerns of their own. “The tribe didn’t find the statue disrespectful, but their concern was that it doesn’t accurately depict someone from our area,” said Fleury.�