How to Get There

Overview

The "World's Largest Buffalo Monument" is a sculpture of an American Bison located in Jamestown, North Dakota at the Frontier Village. It is visible from Interstate 94, overlooking the city from above the James River valley. The statue is a significant tourist draw for Jamestown and the source of its nickname, The Buffalo City.

Description

The sculpture is 26 feet (7.9 m) tall and 46 feet (14 m) long and weighs 60 short tons (54 t). It was constructed with stucco and cement around a steel beam frame shaped with wire mesh.

History

The sculpture was commissioned in 1959 by local businessman Harold Newman, designed by Elmer Petersen, Jamestown College Art Professor and sculptor, and constructed under Peterson's supervision by professional construction workers and community members.

When originally constructed, the statue stood alone on a hill south of Jamestown. Beginning in the mid-1960s, the city began expanding the site with the collection of a small number of historic buildings moved there in an attempt to recreate the look of a small Midwestern town in the 1800s. Named Frontier Village, the project has grown over the years to encompass several acres (hectares) with a complex of buildings and other attractions including the National Buffalo Museum, although the Buffalo still remains the featured attraction.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "World's Largest Buffalo", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0