Paul Bunyan Statue
As the city of Bangor began planning for its 125th anniversary in 1959, volunteers wanted to go big. There was an obvious, larger-than-life choice: Paul Bunyan.
Paul Bunyan is a fictional lumberjack whose strength and height allowed him to fell entire forests in one swipe, carve out valleys and riverbeds by dragging his axe, and leave footprints that formed lakes. Tall tales about Bunyan circulated in lumber camps in Maine and elsewhere as oral folk stories beginning in the late 1800s, but his legend made it out of the camps and into the popular imagination in the early twentieth century when a logging company used him in an advertising campaign.
A teacher suggested creating a statue of Paul Bunyan for Bangor’s 125th as a fitting emblem of Bangor’s stature as the lumber capital of the world during the 1800s. A local artist created a model in his kitchen, which was used to build a red plaid-clad, bearded Bunyan that is 3,700 pounds and 31-feet tall.
The steel-framed fiberglass statue on Main Street sits on a base that contains a time capsule with items from Bangor’s 125th anniversary. The capsule is planned to be opened on Bangor’s 250th anniversary in 2084.