The Closing Era
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| The Closing Era | |
|---|---|
 The statue in 2011 | |
 | |
| Medium | Bronze sculpture |
| Location | Denver, Colorado, U.S. |
| 39°44′21″N 104°59′02″W / 39.739235°N 104.983983°W | |
The Closing Era is a bronze sculpture of a Native American hunter standing over a dying bison, installed on the East side of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver.[1][2] The statue was created by Preston Powers, the son of famous sculptor Hiram Powers and "represents the end of the traditional lifestyle of Native Americans in Colorado".[3] It was originally created in 1893 for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and subsequently donated to the state of Colorado and erected on a granite base. The base originated from Cotopaxi in Fremont County, Colorado. Powers commissioned a poem from John Greenleaf Whittier for the base of the statue.[3]
The original idea came from real estate investors who wanted to commission a sandstone statue to lure newcomers to the Perry Park area of Denver. When the idea did not materialize, a group called the "Fortnightly Club" under the leadership of Mrs. E. M. Ashley and Eliza Routt determined the same idea would be a good addition to the Colorado State's exhibit at the 1893 World's Fair Exposition in Chicago. The group commissioned Powers to create the sculpture in bronze instead of sandstone.[4]
The poem at the base reads:
The mountain eagle from his snow-locked peaks
For the wild hunter and the bison seeks,
In the chang'd world below; and find alone
Their graven semblance, in the eternal stone.
