It had been built with the intention of drawing tourism to the area and was based on a fictionalized version of Hiawatha, a 16th-century Native American chief who had no connection to local tribes.

[1] Long standing public debate about whether the statue was offensive or presented a caricature based on stereotypes of Native Americans eventually led to its removal in 2020, nearly 60 years after it was erected.

[2][3] In 1958, the city of La Crosse’s Chamber of Commerce commissioned art teacher Anthony Zimmerhakl to create a statue to be placed in Riverside Park.

[1]Members of the Ho-Chunk nation had opposed the statue’s installation from the beginning, and had actively advocated for its removal since the early 2000s.

It was a tourist attraction not meant to teach anything.”[2] By 2000, the statue was in need of repairs as its plaster had begun to erode and several cracks had formed which exposed its interior steel frame.

A report compiled following an inspection of the structure found it to be dangerous, and recommended that if major repairs were not carried out, a fence should be placed around it to prevent pieces of plaster from falling on passersby.

An estimated repair cost of $50,000 sparked debate within the community over the statue’s worth and continued maintenance by the city.

[8][5] On July 13, 2020, the city’s Mayor, Tim Kabat formally requested that the statue be removed by the Board of Park Commissioners.