Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
COGSWELL, Henry
COGSWELL, Henry. (Unknown). In the 1880s Cogswell donated a large metal sculpture of himself atop a large drinking fountain to WASHINGTON PARK in Dubuque, although he had never lived here.
In 1900 a group of vandals pulled the statue from its base and, it was thought, buried it under excavations for a new sidewalk. The next day concrete was poured over the site entombing the object. All visible remains of the statue were removed in 1912.
In 2007 when renovations were made to the park, efforts were made with meal detectors to find the statue. Nothing was located leading to the thought that the vandals had thrown the sculpture into the river.