Columbus statue is staying put
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, October 19th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
WALLA WALLA – The Christopher Columbus statue located in downtown Walla Walla will not be moved or taken down. The Walla Walla County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously 3-0 Monday to keep the Columbus statue on the Walla Walla County Courthouse lawn after several members of the public called for the removal of the statue.
Dedicated on October 12, 1911, the Columbus statue was erected by the Italian community and given as a gift to the city of Walla Walla. Many descendants of those Italian community members wanted the statue to remain in honor of their ancestors.
Commissioner Todd Kimball said letters received during the public comment period that were in favor of removing the statue was 75. Letters received for retaining the statue at its present location was 529. There were also several petitions regarding this issue as well. The petition to retain the statue on the courthouse lawn had 1,949 signatures, while the petition to remove it had zero signatures.
“Commissioners are aware that there were more petitions online for this discussion, they were not received by our office during the deadline for comments on this issue,” Kimball said.
The commissioners also voted 2-1 in accepting a statue of Marcus Whitman, physician and missionary, currently on display at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., and placing it on county-owned property or gifting the statue to a museum within the county for display. Commissioners Kimball and Jenny Mayberry voted for accepting the statue, Commissioner Greg Tompkins voted against it.
Earlier this year the Washington Legislature introduced a bill, which passed and was later signed by the governor to remove Whitman’s likeness from the National Statuary Hall and replace it with one of Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually tribal leader. The bill included an amendment that the Whitman statue return home to Walla Walla.
