Triumphant return

The statue of Christopher Columbus that for decades graced Arrigo Park is heading back to the neighborhood it once called home after spending nearly five years in storage.

After a protracted legal battle, the Chicago Park District has finally released the statue into the care of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans. The cherished icon will be installed as the centerpiece of a new museum on Taylor Street dedicated to the Italian immigrants of Chicago.

“This resolution is a huge victory for our community, and to all those who believe in free speech and artistic expression,” JCCIA President Ron Onesti says. “This is the first step in getting all three statues back to our community.”

On July 24, 2020, statues of Columbus in Arrigo and Grant parks and on the Far South Side were removed in the dead of night by then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot in response to violent protests in Grant Park aimed at the statue there.

Lightfoot had promised at the time that all three would be restored to their original locations, but when the mayor fell silent on the matter, Onesti assembled a legal team led by Enrico Mirabelli and including fellow local attorneys Frank Sommario and Anthony Onesto to address the issue.

The prospects seemed grim until a Freedom of Information request unearthed a contract executed between the Chicago Park District and the Columbus Statue Committee.

The agreement governed the disposition of the Taylor Street statue, which was displayed at the 1892-93 Chicago World’s Fair, also known as the Columbian Exposition. It spent more than 60 years in a niche above the door of the Columbus Memorial Building at 31 N. State St. and was placed in storage when the building was torn down in 1958. The statue was moved to Arrigo Park in 1966 and became the subject of the contract in October 1973.

“The contract was signed by (General Superintendent) Ed Kelly and approved by the Chicago Park District,” Mirabelli explains. “The community agreed to donate more than $10,000 toward the repair and upkeep of the statue and the park district agreed to maintain the Columbus statue and plaza in perpetuity. That contract also gave the JCCIA standing as successors to the Columbus Statue Committee to bring a suit to compel the park district to honor its commitment and return the statue to its rightful place.”

Mirabelli estimates that he and his team devoted roughly 700 pro bono hours to the lawsuit from the time it was filed in July 2021 to the present, with Mirabelli clocking the lion’s share of the hours. They were rewarded for their Herculean efforts with a settlement agreement approved on May 2, 2025, by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Michael T. Mullen.

“The city threw every legal trick in the book at them, but Rico and his team were relentless,” Onesti says. “The statue would be in storage until the end of time if it weren’t for them.”

The graffiti-marred statue remained in storage throughout the negotiations, except for one shining moment in October 2021. In the days before the annual Columbus Day parade, Onesti convinced the park district to allow him to cover the statue with a coat of removable paint and present it to an overjoyed crowd at the post-parade reception at Casa Italia.

The statue will step permanently into the light as early as October, thanks to the May 2 settlement agreement. In it, the city agrees to loan the statue to the JCCIA for an open-ended number of five-year periods and the JCCIA agrees to place it in the Chicago Museum of Italian Immigration, which Onesti is creating at 1501 W. Taylor St.

“The museum will tell the story of the families who came here from Italy from 1870 to 1970 to establish a new life in America, and what they did to contribute to the development of this great city,” Onesti explains. “The statue will occupy a position of honor in an exhibit about the Columbian Exposition.”

Onesti says he began quietly laying the groundwork for the museum as soon as it became clear that the city was steadfast in its refusal to return the statue to Arrigo Park or any other open-air setting.

“We’re putting the museum together because the community needs it,” Onesti says, “but it also satisfies a crucial condition of the contract.”

The city and the park district have also agreed to top the empty pedestal in Arrigo Park with a statue of an Italian or Italian American who has contributed to the community in Chicago or nationwide. The person honored will be chosen by a committee of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events in which a member of the JCCIA will be a part.

According to Mirabelli and Onesti, the return of the Columbus statue to the Taylor Street neighborhood is a huge and indispensable step in the right direction.

“The importance of returning the Columbus statue to the embrace of the Italian community cannot be understated,” Mirabelli says. “The lawsuit served its purpose, to reunite the statue with its community.”

“Of course, our goal was the return of all three statues to their original locations,” Onesti says. “But in the current political environment, this solution is a positive step toward an ultimate outcome of bringing the statues back to the community in a way any other ethnic group would want.”

For more about the arduous process that led to the settlement agreement, click here.

The article above will appear in the July 2025 issue of the print version of Fra Noi. Our gorgeous, monthly magazine contains a veritable feast of news and views, profiles and features, entertainment and culture. To subscribe, click here.