An Arson Investigation Is Underway After a Suspected ‘Senseless Act of Vandalism’ Destroys a Newly Installed Benjamin Harrison Statue

Police are conducting an arson investigation after a fire engulfed a new, life-size statue of the nation’s 23rd president at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, in Indianapolis. The blaze was reported around 1:30 a.m. on September 27 in the Neighborway, a paved pedestrian and bicycle path on the site’s grounds. Firefighters with the Indianapolis Fire Department responded within roughly 15 minutes, but they weren’t able to save the 5-foot-6 statue of Harrison, which had been installed less than two weeks earlier.

When presidential site staffers arrived later that morning, they found a large burn spot where the statue once stood. All that remains is its armature, or structural skeleton. The statue is a total loss, and investigators with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department arson unit are looking into whether someone deliberately ignited the blaze.

It would have no reason to combust on its own.” The statue was installed on September 16 during Constitution Week, part of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations. Made of white polymer, it depicted a bearded Harrison mid-stride, walking with his hat in one hand and papers in the other, his coat draped over one arm. The piece included details like a necktie knotted under Harrison’s shirt collar and wrinkles in his clothes.

The public art installation was a collaboration between the presidential site, located in the city’s Old Northside neighborhood, and the Herron School of Art + Design at Indiana University Indianapolis. Students and faculty spent more than 1,200 hours 3D-printing the statue, which was estimated to be worth $8,500, reports WTHR. The piece was “more than a statue,” according to a Facebook post from the presidential site.

They’ve already started on next year’s piece, which is inspired by the art of first lady Caroline Harrison, the president’s first wife. In the meantime, the presidential site has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help replace the charred statue, aiming to raise $15,000 to reprint the original and $50,000 to have it cast in bronze. The students and faculty “have all the files, they have everything conceptualized, they know what it actually takes to put it together, but I think in our conversations—just as we look at being able to rebuild it—we do want to attend to the durability of the material just to ensure that something similar doesn’t happen again in the future,” Hyde tells WISH-TV’s Melea VanOstrand.

Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.