3 new statues coming to downtown Streator

Passersby on Main Street in Streator past Vermillion and past Park streets will be greeted by new, life-sized statues of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh and trailblazing flutist Doriot Anthony Dwyer this summer.

Streator Tourism Director Ed Brozak told the City Council on Tuesday the city’s tourism committee plans to commission three statues in downtown Streator, similar in construction to steel statues placed at the Illinois and Michigan Canal in La Salle.

Brozak said the statues will be placed on the bump outs at the northwest corners of Main and Vermillion and Park and Main streets. A third statue of a coal miner, paying tribute to Streator’s founding as a coal producer, will be placed at the new location of the Streator Historical Museum, 109 E. Elm St., at the former doctor’s offices across from the City Park.

The statues will be purchased from hotel tax dollars earmarked for tourism.

Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto, was born in Streator in 1906. The statue will be placed within eyesight of a mural dedicated to the astronomer who moved to Kansas, then Arizona where he discovered Pluto at Lowell Observatory.

Dwyer, born in Streator, was one of the first women to be awarded principal chair for a major U.S. orchestra, serving as the principal flute for the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1952 to 1990.

Brozak also told the City Council tourism dollars will purchase 36 street banners at $125 apiece with 32 designated for downtown streets and four for City Park. The banners will be specifically designed for Streator with depictions of the city’s history.

Brozak said La Salle County generates an estimated $6.6 million in tourism dollars, saving tax dollars approximately $500. The city charges a 5% tax at its hotels, which is then designated to spend on city tourism efforts. Brozak serves as a volunteer director, taking no pay for the job.