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Since its arrival in Wilkes-Barre 151 years ago, the Luzerne County Courthouse deer statue has evoked whimsy in area residents.
Proof comes from 70 photos, the oldest dating back to 1910, showing people of all ages playfully posing on or by the statue on the courthouse south lawn on River Street, including wedding parties and folks dressed in their Sunday best.
“It’s a Wilkes-Barre tradition,” said Tony Brooks, a Wilkes-Barre councilman and chairman of the Wilkes-Barre Preservation Society.
Brooks started soliciting the deer photographs through the society’s Facebook page in February because people regularly inquire about the statue during the periodic courthouse tours he has been leading for more than a decade.
Many indicated they had photographs with the statue, though some were lost in the 1972 Agnes Flood, when the Susquehanna River burst through the Wyoming Valley Levee.
Brooks dug up his own 1968 photograph showing his mother protectively guarding him as he sat astride on the deer while his grandmother stood at the head, affectionately draping her arm around the deer’s neck. The family dog was focused on sniffing the statue base.
His most prized receipt is a photograph of Marie Riester dated 1910 because it’s the oldest he has seen to date.
News accounts indicate the deer statue was relocated from Public Square in downtown Wilkes-Barre to the courthouse on River Street around the time the courthouse opened in June 1909.
In the 1910 photograph, Riester sits atop the deer clutching the antlers with her gloved hands for support. Brooks points out the absence of trees and shrubs on the lawn.
The collection, which includes a few recent photographs, illustrates changing fashion styles and colors.
“Each photo is unique and wonderful,” Brooks said.
The cast iron deer is the oldest public sculpture in the city, dating back to 1866.
Robert Wood & Company of Philadelphia, which built an iron fence surrounding the county’s third courthouse on Public Square, gave the statue to the county as a bonus.
Brooks hasn’t given up hope that someone will locate an older photograph of the deer when it was on Public Square.
The statute has become so iconic, it was featured in at least two postcards of the county courthouse around 1940 and 1943.
The deer also developed the ability to speak and share secrets about courthouse happenings in a weekly newspaper column published during the 1880s and 1890s, Brooks said. In the column, a journalist interviews the deer.
“The deer speaks in his own voice, and the journalist and deer have banter back and forth about political gossip,” Brooks said.
When the deer moved to its current location in 1909, a news article noted the deer had become a source of inspiration to many newspaper writers.
The statute was placed on a large boulder around 1921 after William Morris, the courthouse grounds superintendent at that time, noticed it was sinking into the lawn, Brooks said. Morris referenced the statue’s popularity at that time, saying the deer “had been at the center of the Kodak group for generations,” he said.
Collecting the photographs has reaffirmed Brooks’ belief that social history and traditions are important in defining an area.
He rattled off other examples, such as eating Planter’s Peanuts, drinking Stegmaier beer and recreating at the bygone Sans Souci Park in Hanover Township and Hanson’s Park in Harveys Lake.
“These are all cultural bonds that we in the Wyoming Valley share together that make us unique,” Brooks said. “I think it’s really important for us to celebrate these cultural moments.”
Promoting local traditions through Facebook and other social media will keep them alive, he said. Many of the deer photographs came from Wyoming Valley natives and their descendants residing outside the area.
The deer statue appears to be stable but could use fresh paint, Brooks said.
“Maybe it shouldn’t be painted. Some old photos show it wasn’t painted at first,” he said.
Plans to restore the deer statue were scrapped years ago due to dwindling capital funds, but county Manager C. David Pedri said he remains open to suggestions and considers historic preservation among his top priorities.
County Operational Services Division Head Edmund O’Neill said fresh crushed stone will be added around the statue at the request of building and grounds, but he cannot justify spending money sprucing up the statue when there are more pressing capital needs.
O’Neill also asked residents who want to photograph themselves with the deer to keep some distance.
“It is not intended to be climbed on and mounted like some do,” he said.