Statues of Stephen Douglas, Pierre Menard to be removed from outside Illinois Capitol
SPRINGFIELD — Statues of two slaveowning men with historical ties to Illinois will be moved from the Statehouse grounds in Springfield to a secure storage site, a panel of four officials voted Wednesday morning.
The decision comes almost six weeks after House Speaker Michael Madigan asked the Office of the Architect to “move expeditiously” in evicting representations of Stephen A. Douglas and Pierre Menard from the Capitol.
Madigan’s request was the longtime Chicago Democrat’s first public statement in the wake of civil unrest sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed on May 25 by a white Minneapolis police officer.
Douglas was a slave owner who served as Illinois’ secretary of state and in the U.S. Senate. He proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and replaced it with a system for states to decide whether to be pro- or anti-slavery.
Menard, also a slave owner, was the first lieutenant governor of Illinois, and he supported political actions devised to ensure slavery was legal in the state.
“Memorializing people and a time that allowed slavery and fostered bigotry and oppression has no place in the Illinois House, where the work of all Illinoisans is conducted,” Madigan wrote in the July 9 statement. “We can only move forward in creating a more just world when these symbols of hate are removed from our everyday lives.”
Andrea Aggertt, Capitol architect, said her office already contacted firms to remove the two statues. The work order, which also includes removing the figures’ bases and foundations, can be completed in two to three months.
She added that the granite bases could be repurposed.
Board members of the Office of the Architect of the Capitol on Wednesday also began the process to move a bronze, 300-pound likeness of Martin Luther King Jr. to “an appropriate location” at the Capitol.
The statue is currently at the intersection of Second Street and Capitol Avenue — colloquially referred to as Freedom Corner — in front of the Illinois State Library.
The likeness is located across the street from the Statehouse because of an administrative rule dictating only historical figures related to Illinois are permitted to be installed on the Capitol grounds.
The panel approved a motion to revise those guidelines.
John Hollman, clerk of the House and co-chair of the board, proposed each of the items acted upon on Wednesday. He did not suggest specific language for the rule change, only the “end goal” ensuring that King’s statue is moved.
Brad Bolin, assistant clerk of the House, pointed out the board will need to reconvene to formalize and approve the alteration. It would then go to the Joint Commission on Administrative Rules for final action.
There was a discussion about why the focus of Hollman’s proposals pertained to the controversial statues located outside the Statehouse and not on ones inside. Another statue of Douglas, for example, is located on the Capitol’s second level in the rotunda.
“The outdoor statue is certainly prominent, but as people come into the building, school groups do tours, in some ways the indoor statue is even more prominent than the outdoor one,” said Scott Kaiser, assistant secretary of the Senate and a member of the board. “... I just see inconsistency there a little bit . ... It just seems to me that we’re making a decision now on Douglas — there’s two of them. Why not take them both out?”
“Our discussion today focused on the statues outside the Capitol building,” Aggertt said in an email. “There will be future discussion on those located on the interior of the building.”