This giant Native American statue stands in the middle of the small town of Montpelier, Indiana. Made of fiberglass, the 25 foot tall statue was made in the 1960s and originally stood in front of a Pontiac car dealership in Indianapolis. In the 1970s, it was displayed at a couple of different museums. Eventually, it was given to Chief Larry Godfroy of the Miami Tribe.

The Miami were the dominant Native American tribe in northern Indiana and northwest Ohio until their defeat by General Anthony Wayne in 1794. Their main town, Kekionga, was located where the city of Fort Wayne now stands. Montpelier, in Blackford County, was the site of a Miami reservation in the early 19th Century.

In 1984, Chief Godfroy donated the sculpture to the town of Montpelier as a monument to the area's history as a part of his tribe's ancestral lands. The statue was featured in the opening sequences of the TV show Parks And Recreation.

This is one of hundreds of large fiberglass sculptures of men that were used as advertising in the past. Most were made by the same company; and they were made in several types, including Native Americans, lumberjacks, and mechanics. The stautes became known as "Muffler Men," because many early ones advertised muffler or car repair shops. They were made from the early 1960s until the mid 1970s.

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by Christopher Crawford

All of my prints are available framed or unframed. I use black metal Neilsen & Bainbridge frames with white cotton unbuffered museum board for the mat and backing board for maximum archival protection. Photographs are printed on an Epson pigment printer using Epson's archival ultrachrome inset for long life.

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