Fountain of the Pioneers- Bronson Park

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Fountain of the Pioneers- Bronson Park

Alfonso Iannelli and the Fountain of the Pioneers Design

The Fountain of the Pioneers is a rare cement fountain and sculpture located in Bronson Park in downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan. The fountain was built in 1939 by local workmen with Works Progress Administration funding. It has marked an important gathering place for Kalamazoo since its dedication on June 6, 1940.

A 1936 contest sponsored by the Kalamazoo Professional and Business Women's Club led to the designs for the fountain. The winner of the contest was Chicago art teacher Marcelline Gougler, a student of Alfonso Iannelli. Iannelli was later hired to finalize the designs and to effectively integrate the fountain into the existing architecture and landscape surrounding Bronson Park.

An accomplished artist, Iannelli immigrated to New Jersey from Italy in 1898. He later studied on scholarship at the Art Students League in New York with Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Following a cross-country trip which landed him in Los Angeles, Iannelli moved permanently to Chicago after a highly successful collaboration with Frank Lloyd Wright on Chicago's Midway Gardens.

Iannelli was a prominent early leader of America's modernist movement. Adept at both the Prairie-Modern and Art Deco styles, Iannelli incorporated both into the final design of the fountain. The Fountain of the Pioneers is a nationally significant example of these styles, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

The Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi and Public Outcry Over the Fountain

In his fountain, Iannelli wished to commemorate what he understood as the stoic but futile resistance of the Native Americans to the westward expansion of European American settlers. According to a myth perpetuated by popular culture, any remaining Native Americans lived "out west."

American popular culture was focused on the 19th Century Indians on the western plains and in early visits to Kalamazoo Ianelli had seen the DAR bronze plaque mounted on a wall of the Kalamazoo railroad station. That plaque confused the 1827 reversion of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish reservation with a vivid description of the 1840 forced removal of some Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish families to Kansas.

Iannelli, therefore, was ignorant of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band and other Pottawatomi that still lived in southwest Michigan.

In 2005, Kalamazoo citizens interpreting the symbolic figures of Iannelli's fountain as a manifestation of racism demanded the fountain be destroyed. However, a subsequent "Issues Resolution Committee" was formed. Working with the local Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi, they resolved to use the fountain to inspire a more accurate history, one that included the many federal treaties with the United States.

Project to Designate the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band's 1821-1829 Reservation with Symbolic Markers

A series of steps will be taken to promote public discussion of the fountain and to promote a more accurate history. These steps consist of a graphic panel in Bronson Park, street signs identifying the reservation's boundaries, and symbolic markers at the reservation corners providing pubilc information corresponding to digital messages at NextExitHistory.com. This will be accomplished through the cooperation of the City of Kalamazoo and the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of the Pottawatomi, who have continuously occupied southwest Michigan. The Next Exit History sites, in particular, allow the Pottawatomi to tell their own story of the treaties with colonial, United States, and Michigan governments; the establishment and cancellation of their reservation; their resistance to removal; and to show their recent federal recognition. The Next Exit History pages for each corner marker can be found by using the "tours" option, found at the bottom of this page on the app.

Fountain Removal and Continued Educational Measures

Despite the work done in promoting a more accurate history, calls to remove the Fountain were rekindled in late 2017. The issue came to a head early in the morning on March 6, 2018. Despite commending the educational projects, after hours of public comment and debate, the Kalamazoo City Commission voted 5-1 to remove the Fountain of the Pioneers from Bronson Park. In a joint letter issued after the vote, Mayor Bobby Hopewell and City Commissioner Don Cooney explained that removing the Fountain cost $200,000, whereas the planned preservation work on the Fountain cost $1 million. The letter also acknowledged that the removal of the Fountain “will not immediately resolve all of the racial issues” in Kalamazoo, but that the vote was made as “a step toward healing.”

On April 24, 2018, the Fountain was removed and placed into storage. As of May 2019, it still awaits a new home. Many in the community felt this as a blow to local history and art. However, other educational measures from the project have moved forward. For instance, in April 2019 the Kalamazoo Reservation Public Education Committee oversaw the installation of over 20 new street signs marking the location of the 19^thcentury Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish reservation. In June the City commissioned a non-invasive ground-penetrating radar study and survey of the aboriginal mound and the adjacent quadrant of Bronson Park. A graphic panel is being planned for the park and funds for the Reservation Corner markers are being raised. Finally, the Next Exit History page for the Fountain of the Pioneers will also remain active. Without the physical reminder of the Fountain serving as a context for teaching about colonization and westward expansion, Next Exit History has become even more important as an educational tool.

Select the "+" in the red cirlce on this page and the camera option to view oral histories from Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Tribal Councillors and band elders.

Credits and Sources:

Information provided by the City of Kalamazoo in cooperation with the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of the Pottawatomi.

Text and images by John Shagonaby, David Benac, Elspeth Inglis, Pam O'Connor, Joseph Helzer, Barbara Brose, David S. Brose, and Jenifer Blouin Policellli.

Webmistress: Jenifer Blouin Policelli