Seventy seven years ago this month, members of Norwalk’s sizable Italian-American community gathered proudly in front of Columbus Elementary School on Concord Street and dedicated a monument honoring the school’s namesake. The Columbus Memorial Scholarship Fund donated $2,800 for the statue, which was built by a sculptor from Fairfield and dedicated on Oct. 12, 1940 to the school upon its opening.

The statue, although moved to Heritage Wall in Thomas C. O’Connor Park in 1983, still draws attention and respect of the local Italian-American community on Columbus Day. “It’s next to Jesus Christ,” said Louis Imperator Jr., financial secretary of the Knights of Columbus Msgr. Thomas J. Finn Council 46 of Norwalk. “When we started 129 years the disparaging comments about Columbus were not out there. He was an explorer.”