to Sunday, September 15, 2024
An Oscoda Press article from Aug 10 1906, described the life of Fabian Fournier, a French Canadian working in the logging camps of northern Michigan after the Civil War. On Nov. 6, 2006, Michigan officially designated Oscoda as the “true birthplace of the legend of Paul Bunyan.
Folklore claims Paul Bunyan weighed 888 pounds and was taller than the tallest tree in the forest. Babe measured 42 axe handles from one horn to the other. It took five storks to carry baby Paul to his mother, and he grew so large that he used Saginaw Bay for a bathtub, and later enlarged it to Lake Huron.
Oscoda’s Paul Bunyan, is 13 ft 4 in tall, and is located in Furtaw Field, two blocks north of the center of town on U.S. 23. The statue was originally made of papier-mâché for Joseph Lowthian, founder of the Hudon’s department store in Detroit, for a 1971 Thanksgiving Day parade. After the parade, the statue was purchased by Oscoda for $50. Paul was restored in 1983 with fiberglass and repainted, and has since been repainted and maintained to keep his good looks.
In 2023, Babe the Blue Ox, was created by Ann Rataj, of Huron Shores Artisan Hall, and now stands faithfully next to Paul.
Furtaw Field
4986-4998 N State St
Oscoda, MI 48750 United States + Google Map