Terri Maddox / Belleville News-Democrat
EDWARDSVILLE A controversial bronze statue of Ninian Edwards will, for the time being, remain where it is installed, in a small plaza near the city’s center.
The statue, the plaza and Edwards’ slavery
Edwards, whom the city is named after, was a founding political leader in Illinois, serving as its only territorial governor in the early 1800s and later as a U.S. Senator and the state’s third governor.
He owned enslaved people and vetoed legislation as territorial governor that would have abolished indentured servitude, which many historians say was a defacto form of slavery. Additionally, Edwards commanded the Illinois Militia, which killed indigenous people and led attacks on their villages.