The towering concrete statue known as Black Hawk became Lowden State Park's most famous landmark after its creation between 1908 and 1910 by sculptor Lorado Taft and artist and engineer John G. Prasuhn. Taft first sculpted an eight-inch model of the Indian figure in 1908, and Prasuhn then made larger copies, including a six-foot version used as the template for the full-scale work. The finished sculpture stands 48 feet 4 inches high and used 238 yards of concrete, with thickness ranging from 8 inches to 3 feet and 2 tons of granite chips. Construction began in the fall of 1910 with a full-height wooden tower at the center, around which workers built a mold of wood, wire netting, burlap, and plaster, then reinforced it with an I-beam and steel bar system outside and a steel tower and reinforcing rods inside. An initial concrete pour in November failed when cold weather froze the first concrete, so the crew insulated the mold with muslin and burlap, heated it with steam piping, and began again on December 20 at two degrees below zero. Two crews of fourteen men worked around the clock for ten straight days, after which the mold remained heated for three days before the team left for the winter to let the concrete cure. In early spring, Taft, Prasuhn, and sponsor Wallace Heckman removed part of the mold from the head and shoulders, were pleased with the results, and over the next two weeks workers cleared away the rest, revealing the statue. At its July 1911 dedication, Taft said the sculpture was modeled not after any one person or group but was inspired by the spirit of all Native American people; although the dedication program used the name Black Hawk, and the statue has been known by that name ever since, the historical Black Hawk was a Sauk war leader of the late 1700s and early 1800s.

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Oregon, Illinois · USA