Chicago Hauntings: The story of the Kwa-Ma-Rolas totem pole on the lakefront
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Since 1929, a totem pole has stood sentry along the lakefront on the east side of DuSable Lake Shore Drive at Addison Street – though it has not been the same one all along.
Its story is one of Chicago history going back nearly a century, and the culture and traditions of First Nations and Indigenous peoples – though sadly, the cultural significance of the first totem pole to occupy the site was not always respected.
Tony Szabelski of Chicago Hauntings Ghost Tours says the Kwa-Ma-Rolas totem pole used to be a frequent stop on local ghost tours, though it has fallen out of favor in recent years. But Szabelski notes there are still stories of it being haunted.
Totem poles are monuments to honor people, ancestries, history, or events – with their crests each telling a family's story. They are created by the six specific First Nations of the Pacific Northwest Coast – the Coast Salish, the Haida, the Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw, the Nuxalk, the Tlingit, and the Tsimshian – usually using a Western red cedar tree.
The totem pole on the Chicago lakefront was created by the Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw (pronounced kwock-KWOCKY-wowk) people of western British Columbia, Canada, and depicts Kwa̱nu'sila – a bird known in the culture of Pacific Northwest First Nations people as the "Thunder Maker." The totem pole itself is also sometimes called the Kwa̱nu'sila.
On his Digital Research Library of Illinois History Journal, Dr. Neil Gale writes that many had their first encounter with totem poles – and the Kwa̱nu'sila – at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. Ethnologists Franz Boas and George Hunt – the latter an expert in the culture of the Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw (the tribe has also been called the Kwakiutl, or the Kwagulth) – collected numerous items from the tribe's culture for the World's Fair and traveled with 17 members of the Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw from Fort Rupert, British Columbia, Chicago librarian Alice Maggio wrote for Gapers Block in 2006.
An "Indian village" was set up at the World's Fair, where the Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw demonstrated their traditions and ceremonial dances, Maggio wrote. After the fair, the items from the World's Fair exhibition went to the Columbian Museum of Chicago – the predecessor to the Field Museum of Natural History – where Boas also worked for several years, Gale wrote.
There are two totem poles at the Field Museum to this day that were created by the Haida people of British Columbia and purchased for the World's Fair. The museum noted that its staff recently worked with Haida museum professionals to reinterpret them.
Some sources claim the first totem pole that was placed at Addison Street in the park of Lincoln Park was at the 1893 World's Fair too. It was not.
The original Kwa-Ma-Rolas totem pole – which, again, is not the one that stands there now – was donated to the city of Chicago in 1929 by Kraft Foods founder James L. Kraft. The Chicago Park District noted that Kraft, known as a jade collector, made trips to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest and brought back artifacts.
On one such trip, Kraft brought back two totem poles that he believed had been created by the Haida people around 1900. Kraft purchased the totem poles in 1926 after negotiating with government officials in British Columbia – and had them shipped to Chicago on flatbed trucks.
One of the totem poles ended up at the Kraftwood Gardens family estate in northeast Wisconsin, Gale wrote. The other sat on the Chicago River dock of the Kraft plant in Streeterville for three years before Kraft gave it to the city.
The totem pole was erected in the park of Lincoln Park on June 20, 1929. Local Native Americans danced in costume with students from Alcott Elementary School in a pageant honoring the Kwa̱nu'sila "Thunder Maker" bird and the other figures carved on the 40-foot pole, the Park District wrote.
On the totem pole, the Kwa̱nu'sila at the top grips the tail of a whale, of which a spear-clutching man rides the back. A sea monster occupies the bottom of the pole below the whale's head.
The totem pole stood there for decades to come, but not without an appalling amount of damage and disrespect. Gale noted that the arm positions of the pole's human figure – depicting a man riding the back of a whale – were changed in 1958 because the arm sockets had rotted. One arm was moved so as to cover the carving's eyes.
In 1966, Gale wrote, the Kwa̱nu'sila was re-carved by Kraft workers – along with the sea monster at the base and the whale rider. Gale notes that while the effort seemed to be a "faithful attempt at restoration," the painted symbols on the pole were not rendered properly.
And in 1972, vandals set the totem pole on fire – severely damaging the bottom figure, Maggio wrote.
The totem pole also deteriorated as a result of the harsh Chicago weather.
While preparing for an exhibit called "Maritime Peoples of the Arctic and Northwest Coast" in 1982, the Field Museum found out new information about the pole – learning that it was created by the Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw rather than the Haida, according to the Park District.
Experts came to believe the totem pole had greater cultural importance than once thought, and plans were made to return it to British Columbia.
On Oct. 9, 1985, the original totem pole was taken down from its lakefront post. CBS 2's Phil Walters was there to cover the story.
Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw Chief Tony Hunt – a descendant of the aforementioned George Hunt – was among the last of the Canadian First Nations people trained from childhood to preserve the art of his people. He was hired by Kraft to return the original pole to Vancouver Island, and said the City of Chicago agreed to return the original totem pole if a replacement was provided.
So Hunt carved a replica of the pole out of red cedar. The only obvious differences between the poles are that the old pole had what appear to be a pair of whale fins that resemble wings about two-thirds of the way up, which are not present on the new pole – and of course, the new pole also lacks all the unwelcome alterations and damage the old pole sustained over the years.
The new pole was dedicated on May 21, 1986.
As to ghost stories, Szabelski says they mainly involve apparitions that people have seen around the totem pole – shadows, or orbs of different colors. Some also say they see the faces of the carvings on the pole shift or turn, or even change places.
Some say as the totem pole faces Wrigley Field – located about six blocks directly to the west – it serves to give the Cubs good luck. On the other hand, in a 2011 article on Through the Fence Baseball, Gene Stevens wrote that ghost hunter Richard Crowe's tour had suggested Wrigley Field being in the path of the totem pole was one reason to blame for why the Cubs at the time had not won a World Series since 1908. But given that the Cubs finally did win the World Series again in 2016, the good luck wishes seem more plausible.
