By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A statue depicting the city’s founders working their way to what would become Rockford is expected to return to the public eye after more than eight years in storage.
The 48-year-old statue created by the late Gene Horvath depicts Germanicus Kent, Lewis Lemon and Thatcher Blake dragging a supply wagon through a swamp on their way here in 1834. Horvath said in 1976 that the statue corrected Rockford’s history by showing that Lemon, a former slave who bought his freedom, was rightfully recognized as one of the city’s founders.
“A lot of times people don’t even know that there was an African American who was part of the founding of Rockford,” said David Ruffin, director and curator of the African American gallery at the Ethnic Heritage Museum. “I think it also gives a little bit of civic pride to know where we came from and where we are now.”
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The sculpture, called “Pulling Together,” was installed in 1976 as part of commemorations of the country’s bicentennial. It stood adjacent to what is now Embassy Suites by Hilton Rockford Riverfront Hotel and across from the Rockford Park District headquarters, which is a former post office.
It was put into storage indoors at City Yards in 2015 as part of construction along South Main Street that removed the Y-shaped curve where Main connected into Wyman Street.
Last week, City Council members approved a way to fund restoring the statue and putting it back on display near the city’s birthplace in downtown.
The city has dedicated $200,000 toward reinstalling the sculpture at Founders Landing in Davis Park along the river. The money will also go toward other public art pieces.
“Lewis Lemon’s statue may be the only statue of an African American in Rockford,” Ruffin said. “We have other things to represent African Americans like schools and streets, but I don’t think there’s another statue.”
The precise location where the statue will be reinstalled hasn’t been determined. The city plans to include the sculpture as part of its larger Davis Park makeover, which will be put out for bids later this year, according to City Administrator Todd Cagnoni.
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Mary McNamara Bernsten, the director of the Rockford Area Arts Council, said the sculpture’s importance was highlighted during Rockford Region Cultural Plan surveys.
Joyce Higgins, the former executive director of the African American Resource Center at Booker Washington in Rockford, was among the first to push for the sculpture to be reinstalled, McNamara Bernsten said.
“I truly believe that statue is symbolic of Rockford’s transformation and acceptance that we all play a role in making Rockford what it is,” Higgins said in a phone interview with the Current.
Lemon, who arrived in Rockford as an enslaved person, bought his freedom from Kent for $800, according to Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum. Lemon began his life anew as a free man in 1839, working as a farmer on the outskirts of what is now Kilburn Avenue.
“I know there were some concerns about statues during a certain period of time, but in my mind’s eye I never felt that … there was any negativity toward that particular statue,” Higgins said. “I never heard any African Americans in the community feel ill will toward the statue.”
The welded steel and bronze statue weighs about 3,000 pounds, according to Rockford Register Star archives. Since it was designed with the original installation site in mind, it will require significant maintenance and repair before being reinstalled, McNamara Bernsten said.
Higgins, who moved to Tennessee in December, said she looks forward to the day when she can return to Rockford to see the statue back in public near Founders Landing.
“Putting those three men there indicates that all cultures, all nationalities, all ethnicities play a role in making Rockford what it is today,” she said.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas