Stephen F. Austin gets the Big Statue treatment

Is this a great day for eccentric Texas stories or what?

Scheduled for completion in May, a 60-foot concrete statue of the Lone Star hero will tower over a 10-acre park in Angleton, not far from the site of Austin's early Brazoria County settlements.

The statue, created by Houston sculptor David Adickes, will be only a few feet shorter than "Big Sam," the gargantuan concrete-and-steel image of Sam Houston erected near Huntsville in 1994.

While the Houston statue was erected to honor the warrior-statesman's 200th birthday, the monument in Angleton is going up simply because promoters thought it was time to honor Austin.

"Basically what we're doing," said Sehon Warneke, president of the Stephen F. Austin 500, the group sponsoring the project, "is building a world-class park to honor a world-class person."

You just knew David Adickes was involved, right? Nobody does bigass statues of historical figures like he does. I think a trip down to Angleton this summer to see Big Steve is in order. Maybe for Olivia's first birthday. Add a little culture to the celebration, you know?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on December 14, 2004 to The great state of Texas | TrackBack