Perry Hannah Statue, Plaza Proposed

A statue and plaza honoring Traverse City's founding father will be installed in a downtown park if city commissioners approve the project Monday night.

The Traverse City Parks and Recreation Commission has already expressed unanimous support for the construction of a small plaza in the southeast corner of Hannah Park on Sixth Street that would house a bronze statue of Perry Hannah. City commissioners will hear public input before giving final say on the project Monday, in accordance with the city's Monument and Public Art policy. In addition to Hannah's statue, the proposed plaza would feature two curved benches, decorative lighting and landscaping and a new crushed limestone path leading from the structure into the park.

Local residents Peg Jonkhoff and Fred Hoisington donated proceeds from the sale of their 2013 book Perry Hannah's Gifts – Then and Now to help fund the construction of Hannah's statue. The book tells the story of the lumber baron – who was one of the founding members of Hannah, Lay & Company and Traverse City's first mayor – through vintage and modern photographs of “the gifts (Hannah) left for us,” including the historic Perry Hannah House on Sixth Street. Located across from Hannah Park, the site today houses the Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home.

City Planning Director Russ Soyring says that between proceeds from the book and individual donations, more than $50,000 has been raised to date. That amount is “sufficient to pay for the statue", according to Soyring. Sculptor Verna Bartnick – who created the “Time to Let Go” sculpture in the Open Space – was commissioned to create the piece and donated part of her time to reduce its cost. The statue is nearing completion in Bartnick's studio.

Separate from the statue's cost, the surrounding plaza and its furnishings are estimated to cost $53,497. Soyring says that while funds to pay for the plaza portion of the project have not yet been raised, the city's capital improvement plan designates $50,000 in fiscal year 2015-16 from the general fund “to pay for a variety of improvements for Hannah Park,” which could go toward the project. Zoning Administrator Dave Weston designed the plaza, with aid from local licensed landscape architect Anita Silverman.

Several community leaders and entrepreneurs who helped finance the publication of Perry Hannah's Gifts so that book proceeds could cover the statue's construction stressed the need for acknowledging Hannah's legacy in the community. Ray Minervini of The Minervini Group notes that Hannah “almost single-handedly brought the Northern Michigan Asylum (later known as the Traverse City State Hospital) to Traverse City, along with the thousands of jobs it created.” Hannah helped Traverse City land the project over four other towns competing for it.

Hannah also founded the area's first general store, Hannah & Lay – which boasted the town's first electricity – and paid for half of the first railroad to come to the city. He donated the land on which the city-owned Carnegie Building was built, and founded the city's first bank, Traverse City State Bank (now Fifth Third Bank). WTCM Broadcasting Company President Ross Biederman says Hannah left a “legacy of leadership that was passed on to many Traverse Citians.”

Soyring, who was an early proponent of the Hannah Park statue, agrees. “Perry Hannah has been referred to as Traverse City's founding father, and in many respects was Traverse City's first city planner,” he says. “He was instrumental in laying out the town.”