In the 1880s, a grand resort hotel stood on this property. The first version of the Mont Eagle Springs Hotel was built by investors from Nashville, burned in 1929, and was quickly replaced. The second version was built by Tennessee real estate investor John Harton, but it also burned to the ground in 1950, after which Harton decided not to rebuild. The Eagle statue stood before the charred ruins and was noticed in 1952 by a Tennessee Polytechnic Institute student working a summer job in the area. Because TPI's mascot was also an eagle, the student and his cohorts conspired to relocate it to the campus in Cookeville as part of a pep rally before a rivalry football game with Middle Tennessee State University. According to the tale, three students came to Monteagle on a rainy night in November with a pair of tin snips, cut away the half-globe beneath the statue's feet, and carried it off to Cookeville, where it was secretly painted gold before being unveiled at the rally. TPI President Everett Derryberry, who knew Harton, reportedly remarked that Harton would never believe he knew absolutely nothing about it. Derryberry had earlier seen the Eagle during a return trip from Chattanooga and had offered to buy it from Harton, but the students got to it first. In 2016, the school, by then Tennessee Technological University, made amends by returning a full-scale replica of the Eagle to Monteagle, where it now sits in Harton Park.