Photograph provided by Mary and Jerry Ince. 

World's Largest Buffalo
Jamestown, North Dakota

Mary and Jerry (the 'rents) seem oblivious to the dangers of standing beneath a giant concrete buffalo.

Year built:	1960
Material	concrete on steel frame
Height:	26 feet
Length:	46 feet
Width:	14 feet
Weight:	60 tons
Cost:	$11,000
Designed and built by:	Elmer Paul Petersen, Jamestown, ND

The idea for the buffalo was conceived in 1957 by the Jamestown Chamber of Commerce's tourist promotion committee as a monument to commemorate the vast herds of bison that once roamed the prairies of North America. Inspiration was drawn from the statue of Paul Bunyan and other similar colossal tourist attractions around the upper Midwest.

Elmer Paul Petersen, an art instructor at Jamestown College, designed and oversaw construction of the huge beast. Eight-inch steel I-beams form a skeletal structure, and reinforcing rods and wire mesh give the buffalo its shape. The exterior is sculpted of stucco, and concrete was forced into the shell to make it solid. The $11,000 cost of the project was underwritten by the Jamestown Chamber of Commerce and the City of Jamestown.

The buffalo was dedicated in 1960 by then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York in a ceremony that attracted national attention.

Postcard provided by Robert Tubbs, from his personal collection.