A bronze statue that’s been vandalized, stolen and moved around Winnipeg several times over the course of 126 years is poised to receive official historic designation.
On Friday, city council’s historical buildings committee will consider adding The Boy with the Boot to its list of historical resources.
The 1.2-metre, 140-kilogram statue, commissioned in 1897, depicts a young boy wearing a boot on his left foot while his right hand holds a leaky boot from his right foot.
The statue was originally placed at a fountain outside the Winnipeg’s old Victorian “gingerbread” city hall in 1898, near a statue of Queen Victoria, according to a report to city council. The bronze boy had to be moved in 1913 to make way for a driveway in front of city hall.
The statue was then deposited in a wooded area in Assiniboine Park, where it occasionally frightened people, owing to its obscure location.
“There are some reports of people stumbling across the statue and it being kind of hidden among the trees there,” senior city archivist Sarah Ramsden stated on the city’s website.
In 1953, The Boy with the Boot was moved again, this time to the entrance to Assiniboine Park’s English Garden.
There it has remained — albeit, with some interruptions.
“The statue appears to be in good condition despite numerous incidents of theft and vandalism. Several times, park officials have found the statue with the boot missing and in 1994, a local fraternity stole the entire statue,” Winnipeg heritage officer Murray Peterson writes in a report about the statue.
“After several months it reappeared in the garage of a popular local radio host with a note that read, ‘Timmy went on a journey, Timmy is lonely and wants to go home.'”
The broadcaster in question was Peter Warren, who hosted CJOB’s Action Line in the 1990s before he moved to Victoria, B.C.
The city has no record of who designed the statue or who cast it, though heritage officer Peterson wrote it was likely created in Italy.
“Its construction history is unclear and the origin of the reason for its creation range from remembering a drowned Italian newspaper seller, to a Civil War drummer-boy who carried water to his fallen comrades, to a young firefighter who used his boot in a bucket chain or emptied it after the fire was out,” he wrote.
Similar statues exist in the U.S., Europe and Cuba, Murray added.
The Assiniboine Park Conservancy said in a statement it’s been informed of the pending historic designation.
“We have no concerns or objections to the proposed historical designation for The Boy with the Boot statue,” communications director Laura Cabak said.
“And yes, he’s still there.”