I'm interrupting our trip back in time to blog about a new addition to the collection, Chief Kandiyohi. We were in Willmar this weekend for a wedding. There was a little bit of time to kill between the ceremony and the reception, so we headed over to visit the big golden Indian.
Chief Kandiyohi is 17 feet tall and stands in front of the public library on top of a 7 foot tall cement pedestal. This Indian image was born in 1915 when it appeared as the Kandiyohi County Bank symbol. In that same year, the bank commissioned Eben E. Lawson to create "Kandiyohi", a smaller sculpture that was the basis for the larger one.
In 1929, Chief Kandiyohi found a home with the Bank of Willmar after several bank mergers. In 1956, Bank of Willmar President Norman Tallakson contracted to have the large sculpture built. The new statue was mounted on the bank and stood there for 27 years. The statue was donated to the City of Willmar and Kandiyohi County in 1983 by First American Bank and Trust of Willmar and was moved to it's current site on July 25th of that year.
There was no real Chief Kandiyohi. Kandiyohi is a Dakota word meaning "where the buffalo fish come."
This is the second pantsless man we have seen on our tour.
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