Third St. and Bemidji Ave., Bemidji, Minnesota. County/parish: Beltrami.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places March 10, 1988. NRIS 88000204.
2 contributing objects.
Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox are the names of a pair of large statues of the American folk hero Paul Bunyan and his ox, located in Bemidji, Minnesota. This roadside attraction has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988.
Built in 1937 to attract attention of passing motorists, these are similar to such structures as the Benewah Milk Bottle, the Teapot Dome Service Station, or the comparably colossal Dinosaur Park sculptures in South Dakota. These were all built in a period of time when automobile travel became increasingly affordable and common.
This pair of statues are said by the Kodak Company to be the "second most photographed statues in the United States", behind Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
(read more...)National Park Service documentation: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93201362