“Kaiser Paul” Lumberjack Statue (c. 1960s)

Made entirely of used car parts from a Kaiser automobile, the statue was originally made for a gas station named Paul Bunyan’s Gas and Eat in Gaylord which was owned by Bill Woelk, a WWII veteran who was born and grew up in Alpena. Built out of fenders and hoods with hair and beard made of steel shavings from a machine shop, the chest is a hood and the eyes are headlights. ACC is the statue’s fourth location. When the gas station closed in the 1970s, the sculpture was moved to a museum until 1980 when it was almost scrapped. Grayling Realtor Bernard Hamilton refurbished and painted the statue, using it as a symbol of the AuSable-Manistee Reality Company until 1998. Since arriving in Alpena, it has been used by ACC as the mascot for the Lumberjacks.

Height 30′

Width 10′

Depth 7′

Artist – Betty Conn, Birmingham, MI

Medium/Material – Sculpture welding/Kaiser automobile parts

Information provided by Thunder Bay Art Council & Gallery, Tim Kuehnlein

Photo courtesy of Alpena Community College