Beltrami County moves old Chief Bemidji statue into storage

The old Chief Bemidji statue was headed into storage at the Beltrami County History Center, a move that settled where the carving would sit but not the deeper question of how Bemidji wants to present its public memory. Beltrami County Historical Society Executive Director Emily Thabes said the decision was meant to let the newer Shaynowishkung statue in Library Park stand on its own.

The Historical Society made the call after years of public debate over how the earlier statue portrayed Native American people. Lakeland News reported that discussions were held before the previous statue was removed, concerns that helped lead to the formation of a committee to plan a new sculpture. That committee spent six years on the project and held public input meetings in Bemidji and at the three Ojibwe nations, part of a process that included city representatives, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, the Red Lake Nation, the White Earth Nation and descendants of Shaynowishkung.

The change comes as the current Shaynowishkung statue marks a decade in Library Park. The bronze figure was dedicated June 6, 2015, after a six-year community-driven effort that was intended to honor Shaynowishkung’s life and bring people together. The earlier Chief Bemidji statue had already been displayed at the History Center, but the new step moves it from public display to collection storage, where access will remain available for research into the statue and its layered history.

Thabes said the goal was to honor the meaning of the statue now standing at Library Park “without competing voices.” That language underscores the civic tension at the center of the decision: preserving the older object while removing it from the visual competition of one of Bemidji’s most prominent public spaces. The Beltrami County History Center now becomes the caretaker for a disputed symbol that will still be available for study, even as the city’s downtown landscape reflects a newer interpretation of who belongs in the story.