Story Monument is a

public artwork Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

artist William Galloway, located at the intersection of State Road 135 South and Elkinsville Road in

Story, Indiana Story is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Van Buren Township, Brown County, Indiana, Van Buren Township, Brown County, Indiana, Brown County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. History Brown County, Indiana, was created in 1836 fr ...

, United States. Story Monument was originally surveyed as part of the Smithsonian's

Save Outdoor Sculpture! Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) was a community-based effort to identify, document, and conserve outdoor sculpture in the United States. The program was initiated in 1989 and ended in 1999. History Save Outdoor Sculpture! was initiated by Heri ...

survey in 1993. The monument is a tribute to the economy of Story.

Description

The monument is carved to look like a

tree trunk Trunks are the Plant stem, stems of woody plants and the main structural element of trees. The woody part of the trunk consists of dead but structurally significant heartwood and living sapwood, which is used for nutrient storage and transport ...

with its limbs cut off. The sculpture is carved with images of a wagon wheel, a

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

, a

dogwood ''Cornus'' is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods or cornels, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous ...

tree and vine.

Information

The sculpture was built to represent, according to Save Outdoor Sculpture!, "the economic decline of Story in the 1930s, and its subsequent rebirth in the late 1970s." The carving of the wagon wheel represents the

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Man ...

buggy assembly operation that was located in Story in the 1920s. (Studebaker's main

South Bend South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

factory ceased making horse-drawn vehicles in 1919.) It took a number of years for artist William Galloway to complete. He worked on it while his parents owned the Story Inn.

Condition

This sculpture, which was incomplete at survey in 1993, was described as "well maintained."

References

{{authority control Monuments and memorials in Indiana Outdoor sculptures in Indiana 1993 sculptures 1993 establishments in Indiana Limestone sculptures in Indiana Sculptures of deer