Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Veovis · 07-14-2003, 04:58 PM

From Walking With Dinosaurs Fascinating Facts by Mike Benton, published by Dorling Kindersley:

Quote:

Waterhouse Hawkins labored for three years building his models of the new American dinosaurs, and everything was ready, when his studio was visited by a gang of thugs who smashed everything in sight. The fragments of concrete were buried in Central Park. The thugs worked for William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, a notorious mobster who unofficially ruled New York. This was part of a power struggle with the local authorities, part of an expression of "Boss" Tweed's anger about the primeval monsters that seemed to contradict his literal creationist view taken from the Bible. So ended America's first prehistoric park.

So there you have it. Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, the designer of the dinosaurs of the Crystal Palace exhibit almost built a dinosaur park in NYC with dinosaurs like these:

but it was all distroyed by a corrupt cretinist with political power. It's a real shame.

By the way, this all happened in 1871, just FYI.

PS: Mods, feel free to move this if need be.

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