Building off of the momentum that is being created in Fort Pierre by the upcoming Bicentennial efforts and the planning efforts that are going along with it, a group of Fort Pierre and Pierre residents have formed a committee to work on funding and placing historic sculptures of Fort Pierre historic figures and events at strategic locations throughout Fort Pierre to greater enhance the rich historical past of the oldest town in all of the original Dakota Territory. To get things kicked off, the first sculpture planned by the committee will be of Pierre Chouteau, the community’s namesake and a symbol of the communities founding history as the “Fur Trading Capital of the Northwest”.
Members of the Fort Pierre Historic Sculptures Committee include Committee Chair Pat Miller, Fort Pierre Mayor Gloria Hanson, Leroy Foster, Tad Perry, Sunny Hannum, Sandy Zinter, Judy Weisgram, Tom LaFaive and Chris Maxwell.
A list of other initial proposed sculptures to be installed in future years includes Scotty & Sarah Philip, the Verendrye Brothers, Lewis & Clark and Chief Black Buffalo, Casey Tibbs and Commander John Waldron.
The Sculpture Committee will plan to commission an artist for each sculpture and would like to have at least one sculpture completed in time for the 2017 Bicentennial Celebration. Similar to Pierre’s Trail of Governors, they will look to commission one sculpture per year.
