Billy Frank Jr. statue foundry chosen, possible WA Capitol locations discussed
Soon, two sizable statues of the late Indian treaty rights activist and Nisqually Tribal leader Billy Frank Jr. will come to life, taking up residences in both the U.S. and Washington state Capitols.
Thursday marked a day of momentum for the coming commemorative art.
The Washington state statue’s future location in the Olympia Legislative Building was up for discussion Nov. 13. That same morning, an announcement was made about which foundry was selected to complete the bronzing.
Willie Frank III, son of Billy Frank Jr. and a Nisqually Tribal Council member, said that his father was arrested more than 50 times for exercising a reserved right laid out in an 1854 treaty to fish, hunt and gather on “usual and accustomed grounds.”
The Native rights icon staged a series of fish-ins and demonstrations that ultimately helped protect tribes’ fishing rights, free from state regulation, via a 1974 court ruling. He was 83 when he died in 2014.
Although Willie Frank III said the racism still experienced today in Washington is “really sick,” he noted that his father saw both the bad and good in the world. One must go through trials and tribulations to progress, he explained.
“This statue symbolizes our great state of Washington,” he said at a Nov. 13 news conference at the Wa He Lut Indian School on the Nisqually Reservation.
The statue, first sculpted in clay by Chinese American artist Haiying Wu, is meant to represent Billy Frank Jr.’s courage and enduring values of environmental stewardship, equality and justice. His figure adopts a relaxed seated posture, next to the Nisqually River bank — a slight smile playing on his face.
Mike Sweney with the Washington State Arts Commission called the fact that the Classic Foundry of Seattle has been chosen for the project “really an exciting moment.” Transforming the clay model into bronze-permanence will ensure that it’s appreciated for generations to come.
“We have every confidence that Washingtonians and people around the world who know, respect and love Billy Frank Jr. will be deeply moved by the final work,” Sweney said.
While one of the Frank statues will ship out to the nation’s capital and rest in the National Statuary Hall, the other will greet visitors here in Olympia’s dome-topped Legislative Building.
In 2021, state lawmakers opted to relocate another statue from its position in the U.S. Capitol: one honoring missionary and doctor Marcus Whitman. The Frank statue is set to ultimately replace it. KNKX reported in March that the new monument will be sent next year to the National Statuary Hall.
The second Frank statue will take root in the state Capitol to reflect Washington’s contribution to the hall in D.C.
Whitman’s legacy has been described as “complicated.” Born in 1802, he’s remembered as a pioneer who forged a path toward settlement of the Pacific Northwest region. He was among more than a dozen white people killed in 1847 by the Cayuse Tribe, and thereafter he’d been venerated as an iconic historic figure.
But in recent years, Whitman’s legacy has been increasingly regarded as ruinous and imperialistic, with some of his mythos since getting debunked.
The state Legislature’s move to rid the U.S. Capitol of the Whitman statue came amid a broader national movement to topple monuments venerating Confederate leaders and colonizers.
The Whitman Wire, the student-run weekly paper for Whitman College in Walla Walla, reported last year that the controversial D.C.-based statue will be moved to an “appropriate location in Walla Walla County” upon its return to the state.
A third Whitman statue that already stood outside in Walla Walla was reportedly defaced in October 2024.
In a Nov. 13 joint meeting of the State Capitol and Capitol Campus Design Advisory committees, members discussed where the Olympia-based Whitman statue, located in the Legislative Building’s foyer, will go as the Frank statue makes its entrance.
One costly proposal: to ship the 11-foot Whitman statue outside to the South Portico to make room for Frank in the north vestibule. That, however, has attracted concern about weather exposure and potential vandalism or graffiti. It carries an approximate cost of $200,765, according to an accompanying PowerPoint.
Cheaper options — ranging from nearly $9,500 to almost $130,000 — include setting Frank’s statue in various spots in the same room where the Whitman and Mother Joseph statues stand.
But therein lies another set of concerns.
Lt. Gov. Denny Heck, who chairs the State Capitol Committee, explained that “there were some very strong feelings expressed by some folks from Indian Country, namely Willie Frank III,” about not placing Billy Frank Jr. and Whitman in the same room — “for reasons of sensitivity.”
There was also talk of hiring a consultant to the tune of roughly $25,000 to $30,000 to explore moving Whitman in front of the Senate dining room on the second floor. The analysis would determine whether that space could support a 9,000-plus-pound statue.
Lawmakers set $100,000 aside in the 2025-27 capital budget for the Whitman relocation. Heck noted that the capital budget has no stress compared with the general fund in the state’s operating budget.
As of now, the soonest-possible installation date for the Olympia-based Frank statue is next September.
This story was originally published November 17, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
.jpg)