''Hiawatha and Minnehaha'' is a sculpture by

Jacob Fjelde Jakob Henrik Gerhard Fjelde (10 April 1859 – 5 May 1896) was a Norwegian-born American sculptor.Harris, Moira F., ''Monumental Minnesota: A Guide to Outdoor Sculpture'', Pogo Press, 1992, pg. 6 He is remembered as both a prolific portraitis ...

that has stood in

Minnehaha Park Minnehaha Park is a city park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, and home to Minnehaha Falls and the lower reaches of Minnehaha Creek. Officially named Minnehaha Regional Park, it is part of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board syst ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

since the early twentieth century. Now a popular fixture of the park, its placement there was originally controversial. In 1855,

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...

published a book-length poem entitled ''

The Song of Hiawatha ''The Song of Hiawatha'' is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his l ...

''. Longfellow never visited

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, but he set his poem among the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

and

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota, ...

of the region. The poem's story line was based on traditional Haudenosaunee (

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

) tales, as recorded, sometimes incorrectly, by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. ''The Song of Hiawatha'' was widely read and had significant cultural influence in the United States through the rest of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. Accomplished Norwegian sculptor Jacob Fjelde immigrated to Minnesota in 1887, following family members to the area. He established a studio in Minneapolis and began receiving public and private commissions. One commission was to create a sculpture for the Minnesota Building at the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

in Chicago. Fjelde chose to create ''Hiawatha and Minnehaha'', a plaster sculpture illustrating a particular section of Longfellow's poem, ''The Song of Hiawatha''. This work was installed at the entrance of the Minnesota Building for the duration of the 1893 Exposition. Then, it was put on display in the

Minneapolis Public Library The Minneapolis Public Library (MPL) was a library system that served the residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. It was founded in 1885 with the establishment of the Minneapolis Library Board by an amendment to the Minneapolis ...

. Fjelde's expenses for ''Hiawatha and Minnehaha'' were paid for by small donations collected from Minnesota schoolchildren. Mrs. L.P. (Lizzie) Hunt, a founding member of the Mankato Art History Club and later an official art critic for the state, organized the fund-raising drive. Beginning in 1902, an informal public campaign was launched to cast Fjelde's original plaster ''Hiawatha and Minnehaha'' sculpture in bronze and place it in Minneapolis's Minnehaha Park, near

the falls The Falls may refer to: * ''The Falls'' (Oates novel), 2004 novel by Joyce Carol Oates * ''The Falls'' (Rankin novel), 2001 crime novel by Ian Rankin * The Falls (mall), an open-air shopping mall in Kendall, Florida * The Falls, Nova Scotia, a ...

mentioned in Longfellow's poem. Critics of the move said that the piece was "flawed," specifically that the features of ''Hiawatha and Minnehaha'' were not Indian enough. Fjelde had struggled to find American Indian people to model the faces after, and he relied on photographs to guide his work. The sculptor died in 1896, so significant changes to the sculpture were no longer possible by 1902. The debate continued until 1912, when the sculpture finally was cast, then installed and unveiled in a public ceremony at Minnehaha Park on October 5.

Charles M. Loring Charles Morgridge Loring (November 13, 1833 – March 18, 1922) was an American businessman, miller and publicist. Raised in Maine to be a sea captain, Loring instead became a civic leader in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he was a wealthy flour mi ...

, the first president of the Board of Park Commissioners for the Minneapolis Park System, gave a dedicatory speech. Local schoolchildren sang and recited parts of Longfellow's poem as part of the program. Fjelde's ''Hiawatha and Minnehaha'' soon became a visitor attraction in the park, and postcards depicting it were widely available. As of 2021, the sculpture remains in its location along Minnehaha Creek and is one of Fjelde's best-known works.

Notes

References

*"100 Years of Art History in Mankato." ''Minnesota History Interpreter'' 24, no. 10 (October 1996): 2. *"Gallant Hiawatha Honored by Minneapolis Children." ''Minneapolis Tribune'', October 6, 1912. *Harris, Moira F
"Worthy of Their Own Aspiration: Minnesota's Literary Tradition in Sculpture."
''Minnesota History'' 55, no. 8 (Winter 1997–98): 364–373. *Shaw, Marian. ''World's Fair Notes: A Woman Journalist Views Chicago's 1893 Columbian Exposition.'' St. Paul: Pogo Press, 1992. *Wood, David A., "An Artist's Odyssey," ''Twin Cities'', March 1986, pp. 69–79.

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