Glass City River Wall, spanning three football fields, unveiled Saturday
The mural pays homage to a special community, which was tragically forced off the land we call home today.
TOLEDO, Ohio — It’s the largest mural in North America, and it’s also right here in the Glass City. And boy does it have plenty of stories to tell!
When the idea for this massive mural along the ADM Silos in East Toledo first came about, three years ago, the focus was and remained on Northwest Ohio’s original residents.
“I’m the father to Orontondi, who is the middle figure in the mural. I’m a citizen of the Shawnee Tribe. We’re one of three Shawnee communities who were forcibly removed from Ohio in the 1830s. We were moved to Kansas, and then eventually to Oklahoma, where all three of our Shawnee communities are today,” said Jeremy Turner, a citizen of the Shawnee Tribe.
The representation of Northwest Ohio’s early American-Indian residents is something that means a lot to the youngest face on this beautiful mural, which spans three football fields and features portraits that rise over a hundred feet above the mighty Maumee. I guess you could say it makes Orontondi Greyhat:
“Happy.” — Orontondi Greyhat, Shawnee Tribe
Orontondi may have been just a bit camera shy. But upon finding out he had been chosen for the mural, was beyond excited.
“He loved it, thought it was great, rubbed it in his brother’s face, and made fun of them for not getting chosen. And so that’s what brought us here to this,” Turner added.
Artist Gabe Gault says there were definitely moments during this project when he didn’t believe this day would come.
“There’s been many times where people wanted to give up, I wanted to give up — but that just wasn’t an option,” Gault said. “We pushed through and we found out ways to overcome the downfall of things.”
But surely those detailed portraits came with a lot of work, and the man behind them can attest to that.
“Besides height, you got wind, you got weather you gotta look out for. So that was a big part of the timeline of doing this type of project,” explained Eric Henn, the muralist.
And all that effort resulted in a mural that’ll be recognized for years to come. One highlight of today’s ceremony to officially unveil the project, the attendance of a 92-year-old woman who served as the inspiration for one of those faces: member and Dakota tribe historian, Mary Wilson.
