It originally was created with a flat head, rounded out by Columbus-based sculptor Alfred Tibor in his 1987 restoration.

In 1966, De Tomasi installed the sculpture in a park he was developing in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

It was restored by Tibor in 1987 and donated to the college one year later, installed in May 1988.

The 2020 George Floyd protests in Columbus created calls to remove the statue, with petitions circulating to also remove other statues of the explorer and to rename the city.

Hours after the statue's removal was announced, it was vandalized again, with spray-painted "America's first Atlantic slaver".