''The Menotomy Hunter'' (1911) is a sculpture by Cyrus E. Dallin in

Arlington, Massachusetts Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Europe ...

, showing a Native American hunter pausing at a brook for a drink of water located in the Arlington Center Historic District. The sculpture resides at the center of the garden between the Robbins Memorial Town Hall and the Robbins Memorial Library, on a crest above a long, shallow reflecting pool. The man is equipped for a hunt, holding a bow. His catch for the day, a goose, rests by his foot. The sculpture was commissioned by the family of the late Winfield Robbins. On the June 25, 1913, this sculpture and the nearby Robbins Memorial Flagstaff were dedicated and Dallin's speech included a passionate plea for renaming the town of Arlington as Menotomy after the historic significance of its largely vanished inhabitants. The architect

Richard Clipston Sturgis Richard Clipston Sturgis (December 24, 1860 – May 8, 1951), generally known as R. Clipston Sturgis, was an American architect based in Boston, Massachusetts. Life and career Richard Clipston Sturgis was born December 24, 1860, in Boston, Massac ...

designed a fountain and grounds to fit the sculpture into a naturalized setting. In 1938, the Robbins sisters hired

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, Social criticism, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the U ...

of the

Olmsted Brothers The Olmsted Brothers company was a Landscape architecture, landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape ar ...

firm to redesign the gardens. The new design transformed the garden into a secluded, welcoming space that included a circular brick walk and an "informal, woodsy and rocky environment and a naturalistic planting as a background to the Indian". (Town Report, 1939.) Like many of Dallin's iconic sculptures, this one too has seen its essence repurposed elsewhere. The statue has become one of Arlington's symbols. It is on the patch of the town's police officers and the fire department, and it is one of the logos used by the Spy Ponders, Arlington High School's athletic team. The sculpture can be found outside the library at 700 Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington and about west of the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum.

References

1911 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Massachusetts Hunting in art Monuments and memorials in Massachusetts Sculptures of men in Massachusetts Sculptures of Native Americans in Massachusetts Works by Cyrus Edwin Dallin {{Massachusetts-sculpture-stub Fountains in Massachusetts

See also

References