The Fluteplayer returns
The Fluteplayer, a statue of a Native American playing a flute on horseback in downtown Marble Falls, is back in its rightful place after being restored following vandalism in 2025. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
Last year, vandals destroyed an iconic statue of a Native American playing a flute on horseback in downtown Marble Falls, but the aptly named “Fluteplayer” recently made a triumphant return, its bronze brighter than ever.
The Fluteplayer had stood on the corner of Main Street and 2nd Street in downtown Marble Falls in front of the Service Title office for 26 years before it was torn down in November 2025.
“You can’t believe just how many people asked me what happened to the Indian,” Service Title co-owner Tammy Whitman told DailyTrib. “They turned the horse over and drug the Indian down the street.”
Whitman owns Service Title with business partner Kaitlyn Williams. The Marble Falls Police Department contacted them at around 2 a.m. on a morning in November, informing them of the vandalism, but the culprits were never found.
On July 9, the Fluteplayer made its return after an art foundry in Bulverde made the repairs to the statue following months of work. Service Title’s neighbor, Travis Dean with Cactus Construction, helped secure the horse and its rider back in place.
Whitman bought the Fluteplayer at an art auction in Georgia on a trip with her husband Raymond. She told DailyTrib that she got into a heated bidding war with another attendee that ended when she turned around, looked them in the eye, and told them “I need that for my office.”
A good samaritan, also attending the auction, offered to help her ship the statue back to Texas along with art he had won bids on.
The Whitmans installed the Fluteplayer in front of their office after the delivery, where it stood relatively unscathed for years before the 2025 vandalism.
Now, it has been welded together and is under the eyes of ample security cameras to ensure that it stands for decades longer.