Located in northern Wisconsin in the town of Phillips, the roadside Wisconsin Concrete Park is something of a museum holding the work of folk artist, Fred Smith. Smith was born in nearby Ogema, WI in 1886. He worked in the lumber trade and with his wife, Alta, raised 5 children.
About 1949 Smith took over the Rock Garden Tavern on Route 13 that he had built along with 2 other men in 1936. During the next 15 years, Smith created 237 embellished concrete sculptures on a 3 1/2 acre site next door to the tavern.
The figures were built on wooden frames that were wrapped with wire and then covered with hand mixed cement. The figures were then decorated with odd bits, including mirrors, machine parts and broken pieces of colored glass. There are figures of lumberjacks and cowboys and farmers; animals, fish and angels. Paul Bunyan is there, and so is Abe Lincoln, John Wayne and Sacajawea. The Statue of Liberty and the chariot race from Ben Hur are there, along with the flag raising at Iwo Jima.
Not long after Smith's death in 1976 a windstorm that swept through the area knocked down trees and branches and destroyed many of the sculptures. The Kohler Foundation of Wisconsin restored the sculptures and donated the site to Price Co. which operates it as a free county park.
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