1944

Fort Wayne Sesquicentennial Block Prints

On the occasion of the Fort Wayne sesquicentennial in 1944, a local artist created a series of block prints called the "Glorious Gateway." The name recalls the city's celebration nearly thirty years earlier in honor of the state centennial. Telling the story of native heritage and European settlement at the portage of the three rivers, "Glorious Gateway" is arranged as a calendar in a twelve part series.

This print for the month of January features a Miami Indian peering from the woods towards the horizon. With a beaver gnawing on a tree, the print also gives a nod to the fur trade, an essential element of early commercial life at the confluence of the three rivers.