On the federal Columbus Day holiday, the most-searched Columbus statue in Maryland is not in Maryland anymore: a rebuilt copy of the monument protesters toppled in Little Italy in 2020 now stands on the White House grounds. Back on President Street, the pedestal is waiting for something different, a marble memorial to an anonymous Italian immigrant family that organizers expect to finish by the end of 2027.
Here is how Baltimore’s best-known Columbus monument went from the bottom of the harbor to Washington, what is coming to Little Italy, and what happened to the city’s two other Columbus monuments.
What happened to the Columbus statue in Little Italy?
The 1984 marble statue by sculptor Mauro Bigarani stood at President Street and Eastern Avenue, at the edge of Little Italy. President Ronald Reagan and Mayor William Donald Schaefer unveiled it in October 1984, and the Italian American community raised the money for it, about $1 million at the time, according to the Boston Globe.
On the night of July 4, 2020, protesters lassoed the statue and pulled it down. It broke apart, and the pieces were dragged across the plaza and dumped into the water, Baltimore Brew reported. Two days later, volunteers working with Italian American Organizations United (IAOU), the group that owns the statue, used divers, a crane and a flatbed truck to pull pieces out of the harbor. The Globe reported that divers recovered 17 pieces, roughly 80% of the statue.
How did a Baltimore statue end up at the White House?
The original could not simply be glued back together. Maryland artist Will Hemsley had the fragments 3D-scanned and cast a new statue from a mold using a composite that includes marble dust; it was finished in 2021. Funding came from community donations plus federal money, including a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The replica sat in Hemsley’s studio for years. In late January 2026, IAOU president John A. Pica Jr., a lobbyist and former Democratic state legislator, signed a loan agreement with the National Park Service that runs until Jan. 20, 2029, when the group will reassess. The statue was installed on the White House grounds in March 2026 and remains on loan to the federal government.
“In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero.”
White House spokesman Davis Ingle, to the Boston Globe
Not everyone in Baltimore welcomed the move. Jessica Dickerson, a member of the Lumbee Tribe who pushed for the city’s holiday change, told the Globe she hopes a future administration removes it.
What is replacing the Columbus statue in Little Italy?
The Columbus statue will not return to its pedestal. In July 2026, IAOU and community partners announced the “Anonymous Italian Immigrant Family Memorial,” a 7-foot white marble sculpture by sculptor Sebastian Martorano showing a husband and wife holding an infant, dressed in early-1900s clothing.
- Funding: The project started with $140,000 in state grant money and met a fundraising goal of more than $200,000 needed to begin work.
- Timeline: Completion is expected by the end of 2027.
- The base stays: The existing pedestal, with carvings of Columbus’ three ships and the words “In Commemoration of the Discovery of America,” will remain.
- New plaques: One on the history of Little Italy and its Black, Jewish and Native American neighbors; one listing donors and officials; one honoring the D’Alesandro family, including former Mayors Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. and Thomas D’Alesandro III and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
- Security: The sculpture will be anchored with a fixed steel rod, cameras will run around the clock, and the existing fence will stay.
Pica’s group worked on the design with then-City Councilman Zeke Cohen and members of the Black, Jewish and Native American communities, Baltimore Brew reported.
Is Columbus Day still a holiday in Baltimore?
In October 2020, months after the statue fell, the Baltimore City Council voted to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the city calendar, WJZ reported. The second Monday in October is still a federal holiday, so federal offices, banks and the post office follow the federal schedule. For what is open and closed today, see our Columbus Day guide for Baltimore.
Where are Baltimore’s other Columbus monuments?
The Little Italy statue was the newest of three Columbus monuments in the city.
- The 1792 obelisk, Herring Run Park: A 44-foot brick-and-cement obelisk erected by French consul Charles François Adrien le Paulmier, Chevalier d’Anmour, and dedicated Oct. 12, 1792, the 300th anniversary of Columbus’ landing. It was moved to Harford Road in the 1960s, according to Baltimore Heritage. In August 2017 its base was damaged with a sledgehammer. A 2020 council bill to rename it for victims of police violence was vetoed by Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young, and the council failed to override the veto.
- The 1892 statue, Druid Hill Park: A Columbus statue by sculptor Achille Canessa stands near Lake Drive in Druid Hill Park.
Timeline: Baltimore’s Little Italy Columbus statue
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| October 1984 | Reagan and Schaefer unveil the Bigarani statue at President Street and Eastern Avenue |
| July 4, 2020 | Protesters topple the statue; pieces end up in the harbor |
| July 6, 2020 | Volunteers and divers recover the pieces |
| October 2020 | City Council votes to rename Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day |
| 2021 | Will Hemsley completes the rebuilt statue |
| Late January 2026 | IAOU signs a loan agreement with the National Park Service through Jan. 20, 2029 |
| March 2026 | Replica installed on the White House grounds |
| July 2026 | Immigrant-family memorial announced for the Little Italy pedestal |
| End of 2027 | Expected completion of the new memorial |
What happens next?
Two dates matter. In Little Italy, the new memorial is expected by the end of 2027, though no unveiling date has been announced. In Washington, the White House loan runs until Jan. 20, 2029, the day the next presidential term begins, when IAOU says it will decide the replica’s future. Until then, the only Columbus figure on the President Street pedestal is the carving of his three ships.
Featured image: The empty pedestal at President Street and Eastern Avenue in August 2020, weeks after the statue was toppled. Photo: APK / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.