Menotomy Hunter

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{{Short description|Bronze sculpture in Arlington, Massachusetts, U.S.}}

{{Infobox artwork

| title = Menotomy Hunter

| image = Menotomy Indian Hunter by Cyrus E. Dallin - Arlington, Massachusetts.JPG

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| artist = Cyrus E. Dallin

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| completion_date = 1911

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| medium = Bronze

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| subject = Menotomy Hunter

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| height_imperial = 5 ft 0

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| city = Arlington, Massachusetts, U.S.

| coordinates = {{Coord|42.415419|-71.155907|display=title}}

| owner = Town of Arlington, Massachusetts

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The Menotomy Hunter (1911) is a sculpture by Cyrus E. Dallin in Arlington, Massachusetts, showing a Native American hunter pausing at a brook for a drink of water located in the Arlington Center Historic District. The sculpture resides at the center of the garden between the Robbins Memorial Town Hall and the Robbins Memorial Library, on a crest above a long, shallow reflecting pool. The man is equipped for a hunt, holding a bow. His catch for the day, a goose, rests by his foot.{{Cite web|title=Menotomy Indian Hunter|url=https://iconsofarlington.com/2019/08/12/menotomy-indian-hunter/|access-date=4 April 2021|website=Icons of Arlington|date=12 August 2019}}

The sculpture was commissioned by the family of the late Winfield Robbins. On the June 25, 1913, this sculpture and the nearby Robbins Memorial Flagstaff were dedicated and Dallin's speech included a passionate plea for renaming the town of Arlington as Menotomy after the historic significance of its largely vanished inhabitants.{{Cite book|last=Francis|first=Rell|title=Let Justice Be Done|year=1976|isbn=|location=Cyrus Dallin Art Museum|pages=50–51}}

The architect Richard Clipston Sturgis designed a fountain and grounds to fit the sculpture into a naturalized setting. In 1938, the Robbins sisters hired Frederick Law Olmsted of the Olmsted Brothers firm to redesign the gardens. The new design transformed the garden into a secluded, welcoming space that included a circular brick walk and an "informal, woodsy and rocky environment and a naturalistic planting as a background to the Indian". (Town Report, 1939.){{Cite web|date=20 September 2021|title=History of the Winfield Robbins Memorial Garden|url=https://www.friendsoftherobbinstowngardens.org/history/}}

Like many of Dallin's iconic sculptures, this one too has seen its essence repurposed elsewhere. The statue has become one of Arlington's symbols. It is on the patch of the town's police officers and the fire department, and it is one of the logos used by the Spy Ponders, Arlington High School's athletic team.

The sculpture can be found outside the library at 700 Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington and about {{convert|200|yard}} west of the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum.