Chief of the Suquamish - Chief Seattle - Seattle, WA - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

Visitors to the historic Pioneer Square are surrounded with many historical buildings and structures, many of which contain plaques and monuments strategically placed throughout the square to attest to this plaza's volatile history over the decades. The Chief Seattle Fountain stands out in the open and next to the Pioneer Building. It is a contributing structure (ID #64) in the Pioneer Square Skid-Road District.

The Smithsonian Art Inventory's decription on this scultpure/fountain says the following:

Bust of Chief Seattle (ca. 1790-1867), chief of the Suquamish tribe. The idea for an ornamental watering fountain for animals came in 1908 as the City of Seattle was making improvements for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909. The city commissioned James Wehn to make a bronze cast of the bust only of a clay model he happened to be completing at that time for a full length statue of Chief Seattle to be erected at Tilikum Place (see IAS record number 75008681). The resulting bronze bust was set in the fountain and became the first sculpture of Chief Seattle to be sited in Seattle.

Inscription: CAST By/CASCADE FIXTURE CO. (Raised:) CHIEF SEATTLE (Proper left side of bust:) JAMES WEHN (Back of bust, raised:) CHIEF OF THE SUQUAMISH (On basin:) STAR FOUNDRY - SEATTLE, WA signed Founder's mark appears.

The National Park Service PDF datasheet description for this contributing structure (page 110-111) says the following about the Chief Seattle Fountain:

The bust of Chief Seattle in Pioneer Place was sculpted by James Wehn and completed in 1909. It has been part of Pioneer Place since that time and appeared in the public square around the same time as Julian Everett's Pergola. These additions to Pioneer Place also coincide with the Alaska Yukon Exposition of 1909-1910, which was located on the new campus of the University of Washington and drew many visitors to Seattle, enhancing Seattle's image as a new city of rising importance, as well as the gateway to Alaska and the Yukon. The bust is a permanent part of Pioneer Place. James Wehn, in his day, was a noted Seattle sculptor, who had spent his youth as an orphan and a protege of Father Francis Xavier Prefontaine, the head of Seattle's first Catholic parish. The lower fountain portion of the work has been restored, while the statue retains the essential artistic qualities that have always distinguished it.

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There is a nice historic writeup on the artist, James Wehn, here as well as some information on Chief Seattle, a friend of the white man and for which the City of Seattle is named after, here.

TITLE: Chief of the Suquamish - Chief Seattle ARTIST(S): James Wehn DATE: 1909 MEDIUM: Bust: cast bronze; Basin: iron, painted black. CONTROL NUMBER: IAS 75008656 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: Pioneer Square Seattle, WA DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: I didn't notice any differences between AIC's description and my own personal observation. *NOTE* AIC has my permission to use the pictures I've provided when creating this waymark for their database. ~Doug Halvorsen (thebeav69)

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