Pere Marquette Memorial - Utica, IL - Relief Art Sculptures on Waymarking.com

Continued, From the Smithsonian Arts Inventory site:
Behind him on the proper right is an Indian kneeling in a canoe. On his proper left side is a second Indian seated on a edge of a river, depicted in the background.

Sculpture: approx. 6 ft. x 4 ft. x 6 in.; Base: approx. 10 x 10 x 4 ft.
Inscription: (Proper right bottom of relief:) J. Topin 1937 (Proper left bottom of relief:) F. BARBEDIENNE FONDUER PARIS (Base front:) PERE MARQUETTE/BORN AT LAON FRANCE JUNE 1, 1637 HE DIED NEAR/LUDINGTON MICHIGAN MAY 18 1675/DEVOTED MISSIONER AND HEROIC PRIEST-EXPLORER/HE OFFERED THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS NEAR/THIS SPOT MAUNDY THURSDAY AND EASTER SUNDAY 1675/AND ESTABLISHED THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MISSION IN/THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY/THIS MONUMENT ERECTED UNDER/ARCHBISHOP JOSEPH H. SCHLARMAN BISHOP OF PEORIA/BY THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF MANY WAS UNVIELED BY/HIS EMINENCE SAMUEL CARDINAL STRITCH/ARCHBISHOP OF CHICAGO SUNDAY OCTOBER 14 1951 signed Founder's mark appears.

From (visit link)

"French Jesuit missionary explorer who, with Louis Jolliet, traveled down the Mississippi River and reported the first accurate data on its course.

Marquette arrived in Quebec in 1666. After a study of Indian languages, he assisted in founding a mission at Sault Ste. Marie (now in Michigan) in 1668, and another at St. Ignace (now in Michigan) in 1671. In mid-May 1673 he left St. Ignace with Jolliet, who had been commissioned by Louis, comte de Frontenac, governor of New France, to find the direction and the mouth of the Mississippi. They travelled westward to Green Bay (now in Wisconsin), ascended the Fox River to a portage that crossed to the Wisconsin River, and entered the Mississippi near Prairie du Chien on June 17. Following it to the mouth of the Arkansas River, they learned that the Mississippi flowed through hostile Spanish domains, and in mid-July they turned homeward by way of the Illinois River. Marquette was exhausted when he reached Green Bay, and he remained there while Jolliet continued on to Canada.

In 1674 Marquette set out to found a mission among the Illinois Indians, but, caught by the winter, he and two companions camped near the site of the city of Chicago, and thus became the first Europeans to live there. Marquette reached the Indians (near what is now Utica, Ill.) in the spring, but illness forced his return. While en route to St. Ignace he died at the mouth of a river now known as Père Marquette.

Also learn more at (visit link)
under "Marquette Sculpture"

Your impression of the sculpture?: Date Sculpture was opened for vewing?: 01/01/1937 Website for sculpture?: [Web Link] Where is this sculpture?: In front of St. Mary's Church at S. Division and W. Johnson Streets Utica, IL USA Sculptors Name: unknown

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Date Logged Log User Rating   11/11/2012 CHI-TOWN ROMEO visited it