PROVIDENCE – The city’s controversial Christopher Columbus statue now belongs to a former mayor.
The Providence Board of Park Commissioners Thursday unanimously selected former Mayor Joseph R. Paolino Jr.’s bid of $50,000 to purchase the statue, WLNE-TV ABC 6 reported.
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“[Paolino] was the most responsive bidder,” Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley told the station. “There were two bids, effectively the same dollar amount. One of the bidders gave very little detail what his plan was, and definitely would’ve moved it out of state.”
The decision continues the yearslong saga of what to do with the historic, yet controversial statue, which was taken down from its pedestal in Columbus Square in June 2020 after being repeatedly vandalized.
The statue was cast in bronze from an original sterling silver statue by the French artist Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, who also designed the Statue of Liberty. The original statue was commissioned by Providence-based Gorham Manufacturing Co. for the 1892 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Some people say the bronze statue, cast in 1893, is an example of artistry and local history. Others condemn it as a symbol of racism and genocide.
The parks commission in July voted to issue a public solicitation to find a potential buyer or long-term lessee for the statue. The request for proposals, which closed Sept. 26, left open the price and use of the statue, only specifying that it “must be well-preserved, protected and not damaged, altered, manipulated or melted down in any way.”
Paolino previously told ABC 6 he wanted to purchase the statue and partner with either a local Italian American organization or an historical museum to preserve the history behind the piece.
The board of parks commissioners on Oct. 26 voted to reissue a public solicitation seeking buyers for the Columbus statue, after the initial solicitation only yielded two responses.
One of the two responses came from state historical laureate Patrick T. Conley, who through his nonprofit Heritage Harbor Foundation, offered to buy the statue for $25,000. However, Conley’s bid did not explain what he plans to do with the statue, which is one of the questions required in the city solicitation.
The other offer, for $7,800, came from Mary Brimmer, a North Kingstown resident and town councilwoman who wanted to display the statue at her South Carolina retirement home. Brimmer’s bid also included $1 million in liability insurance coverage and coverage of travel and storage costs, noting that the gated community in which the statue would be located included 24/7 security guards.
Faced with conflicting viewpoints, the city has struggled with deciding where it should go, and to whom. Although the city’s Special Committee for Commemorative Works previously recommended that the city sell the piece at auction – a process in the museum world known as deaccessioning – and use the profits to reinvest in the neighborhood, auction houses were reluctant to take on the task of selling the piece because of its controversial nature, Wendy Nilsson, city parks superintendent, said previously.
