Help Rebuild Benjamin Harrison

Help Rebuild President Harrison

Support the replacement of a public art installation.

Less than two weeks after taking his place along the Neighborway at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, a life-size 3D-printed statue of President Benjamin Harrison was destroyed by fire in the early morning hours of September 27.

The fire, which is under investigation as arson by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, was a devastating end to a remarkable work of public art—and more than 1,200 hours of 3D printing by students and faculty at Herron School of Art + Design at Indiana University Indianapolis.

Now, we’re asking for your help to help President Ben stand again.

The statue was the first public art installation created through a collaborative partnership between the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site and Herron School of Art + Design. Drawing upon the Presidential Site’s collection of nearly 11,000 artifacts and its growing collection of 3D scans, Herron students and faculty used cutting-edge technology to create a life-size representation of America’s 23rd president.

Installed on Constitution Day, the statue stood along the Bob Annis Way and Neighborway connecting Delaware and Pennsylvania Streets. The Neighborway was created as a “love letter” to the neighborhood, a welcoming public space that restores a connection lost when I-65/70 was constructed 50 years ago.

On September 27, the Harrison statue was intentionally set on fire with an accelerant and was a total loss.

But this collaboration—and what it represents—isn’t ending here.

Help us rebuild.

The Presidential Site is raising funds to help offset the cost of replacing the destroyed Harrison statue. Gifts to this special crowdfunding campaign will directly support the costs associated with recreating and reinstalling the public artwork.

The original statue represented more than President Harrison. It represented students learning by doing. Artists and historians working together. New technology bringing a historic collection into the public realm. And an investment in making our neighborhood a more beautiful, welcoming place.

Those things are worth rebuilding.

Will you help President Ben stand tall again?

Every contribution brings us one step closer to returning President Harrison to the Neighborway and continuing this innovative partnership between the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site and Herron School of Art + Design.

An act of destruction may have taken the first statue from us. With the help of our community, the work it began will continue.