September 1, 2010
09/01/10
A new historical marker to tell the location of Chief Menominee’s village site will be dedicated September 17 at 4:00 p.m. at the Menominee statue site.
Tylor Borggren, Plymouth, has worked all summer on a project to earn his Boy Scout Eagle Award and preserve local history. A member of Troop 251, he and the other scouts and their parents have worked at three sites that needed attention: Menominee statue on Peach Road, Menominee’s chapel monument on 12th Road, and the Trail of Death sign on Indiana 17 and 12th Road.
Tylor is a freshman at Plymouth High School. He is the son of Kent and Sherri Borggren, of Plymouth Indiana.
Tylor Borggren contacted Shirley Willard of the Potawatomi Trail of Death Association, Rochester, for ideas. She suggested he contact Professor Mark Schurr for the location of Menominee’s village as determined by Schurr’s archeological digs and research in 2000-2002. Evidence indicated the village was located about two miles southeast of the statue in the Wolf Creek neighborhood. The site is on private property but to not encourage trespassing, the marker has been placed beside the Menominee statue.
At the request of Tylor’s grandfather, Raymond Borggren, he has cleaned the boulder and plaque for Menominee’s Chapel on 12th Road and replaced the landscaping. With the help of others the overgrown shrubs were removed. At the third location they cleaned and repainted the Trail of Death historical sign on Indiana 17 and 12th Road.
The public is invited to the dedication. George Godfrey, a Potawatomi who had ancestors on the Trail of Death, will conduct the dedication with a traditional ceremony. Godfrey is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Shawnee, Oklahoma but he lives at Athens, Illinois. A former professor at Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence, Kansas, he comes to the Trail of Courage Living History Festival every year to be the emcee at the Indian dances. The Trail of Courage will be September 18-19 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 10-4 Sunday at the Fulton County Historical Society grounds four miles north of Rochester on US 31 and Tippecanoe River. Admission is $6 for adults, $2 for children age 6 to 11, free for kids age 5 and under.
The dedication of Menominee’s Village monument is free and the public is invited. George and Michelle Schricker, Plymouth, will sing the song he wrote about Menominee.