On a narrow back road in Mechanicsville, a small group of the region’s Italian community met to say final goodbyes to one of their most treasured possessions: the first Christopher Columbus statue of the South.
Following the abrupt removal of Richmond’s Columbus statue, which once stood at the entrance of Byrd Park, its whereabouts have largely gone unnoticed by the public.
This is due to the works of the Italian American Cultural Association, whose members — rather in secrecy — have been harboring and refurbishing the 8-foot-tall, bronze-cast statue in a warehouse on the outskirts of one member’s Henrico County property with the hopes of seeing it standing once again.
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Now, nearly four years later, the organization’s dreams have come to fruition as the restored statue is set to be displayed once again on the Sons of Italy Lodge’s campus in upstate New York.
“It will be prominently displayed on their property to inspire all to embrace the spirit of discovery and foster a community that learns from history and champions tolerance,” said John Corritone, co-chair of the organization’s statue restoration fund. “With the statue’s new home, the legacy of Christopher Columbus will be kept alive.”
Torn down in 2020
In June 2020, at the height of the George Floyd protests, which demanded an end of police violence against Black Americans, the Columbus statue was one of the first to be removed in the city.
During a demonstration, protesters, who later said they were acting in solidarity with the nation’s Native American communities, tore it down, spray-painted it, set it on fire and threw it into nearby Fountain Lake.
In previous years, the city faced backlash for the statue. Critics pointed to Columbus’ role in the early enslavement and mistreatment of the nation’s Native communities. On numerous occasions, the Richmond police responded to vandalism of the statue.
“To community members and organizers, the Christopher Columbus narrative represents the first leg of a mythical heroes relay race,” local activist Chelsea Higgs Wise, who was present at the statue’s removal, previously told The Times-Dispatch. “Drowning the Columbus statue was a way for Richmond to correct our narrative.”
In recent years, largely sparked by public demonstrations, localities and organizations alike have grappled with their own memorialization of Columbus. In Columbus, Ohio, its statue was removed from the city square. His name has been removed from interstates, public schools and plazas.
A hero to some
While Columbus has undoubtedly become a controversial figure, others look to him as an ambassador of curiosity, innovation and perseverance.
For Richmond’s small, primarily Catholic, Italian community, the Columbus statue represents their own struggle as immigrants in a predominantly protestant region.
“It’s not just a symbol of Christopher Columbus. It’s a symbol of the people who came here, like he did, and sacrificed so much to do that,” said artist Paul DiPasquale, who sculpted Richmond’s Arthur Ashe Monument. “These stories are our heritage, and we need to know them.”
In the early 1920s, roughly 1,000 members of the Italian American community petitioned the city to place the statue along Richmond’s now-infamous Monument Avenue. The purpose was to showcase a piece of their heritage in their adopted home.
The idea was quickly dismissed by city officials who argued Columbus was foreign and Catholic and had no place among the Confederacy’s stalwarts. However, the community persisted and eventually, in 1927, the statue was placed at the entrance of Byrd Park.
Since then, the descendant community has played a part in its maintenance and general groundskeeping.
Shrouded restoration efforts
In 2022, the Richmond City Council unanimously voted to donate the statue to the Italian American Cultural Association of Virginia where they spent no time getting to work on restoring the project.
On a hot Richmond summer day, a small crew of association members sandblasted the statue for 12 hours to remove the bulk of the graffiti and paint.
However, it would take more work to see it fully restored. With an estimated $5,000 to $7,000 quote to fully refurbish the piece, the association got together fundraising. There, they saw numerous donations pour in from various Knights of Columbus groups across the region.
The committee, fearing further destruction, often worked behind closed doors, with few knowing its exact location. Following the restoration efforts, the association began the next phase of the project: finding it a new home.
While the hope was to see it returned to Richmond, Corritone said no one was willing to house it in the city — or the state. Corritone said he reached out to local museums, organizations, the diocese and even the Italian and Spanish embassies to no avail.
No one wanted it.
That was until one member suggested the Sons of Italy in upstate New York. After some discussions, the private organization gladly agreed to erect the statue on their campus grounds.
So, arriving in Richmond Thursday morning, members of the order loaded the statue into the back of a box truck and made the hourslong drive back home.
Many tears were shed as members said their final farewells, many reflecting on their trips to Byrd Park and its legacy within the descendant community.
“I am so very proud of the Italian American Cultural Association’s grassroots efforts in saving the Columbus statue from ruin,” Corritone said.