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Seemingly out of nowhere, a 7-foot-tall Tyrannosaurus rex statue appeared in July near the east entrance to Propst Park from Main Street.
Since then, the dinosaur has also been the subject of social media chatter from passersby wondering where the T. rex came from, and at one point, what exactly happened to its tail.
Why is there a dinosaur at Propst Park? Did the city pay for it? When and why was a fence installed around the statue?
Far from random decor, the dinosaur was officially unveiled in July to mark the entrance to the Dr. John “Jack” Kaye Cretaceous Fossil Park. Set to run along Luxapalila Creek on the east side of Propst Park, the park will highlight roughly 80 million years of local geological history once it opens.
Greg Lewis, recreation director for the city, said the dinosaur was added to indicate the entrance of the park and to hopefully draw some attention to the project.
“This is out there promoting the fossil park, letting people know that this is the actual destination,” he said. “… We want to get people’s attention, and maybe somebody (will) stop by the (parks and recreation) office and say, ‘Hey, what’s that dinosaur for? Why is that dinosaur down there?’ And then we get to give them a spiel on the fossil park.”
Barbara Bigelow, executive director for Main Street Columbus, said the dinosaur was purchased for about $5,405 from a Science Discovery on Main Street grant awarded in March 2025 to help fund promotional efforts for the fossil park. The grant also covered the purchase of a dinosaur-bone bench on Catfish Alley.
“People think the city paid for it and we wasted money on it, but that’s not the case,” Mayor Stephen Jones said of the statute.
In late July, Lewis said the tail of the statue was found broken after someone put too much weight on it.
“It broke the tail off,” he said. “Now I don’t think that it was malicious, but I think that somebody was taking a picture.”
Bigelow confirmed grant funding was also used to repair the dinosaur’s tail – about $583, including materials. The recreation department then paid $3,945 for decorative fencing placed around the dinosaur, according to the city’s Oct. 6 claims docket.
Signage has also been added to ensure those enjoying the dinosaur do not climb on the statue.
“I don’t think it was any vandalism or anything like that, but we’re mainly trying to keep the kids off it because it’s not something that was constructed for kids to be riding the tail,” Jones said.
Lewis said the department would like to add more dinosaur statues near the future fossil park if he can find “suitable funding” to do so. The goal is to give the east side of Propst, nearest to the fossil park, enough of a dinosaur theme to drive more foot traffic to the fossil park.
“We want people to look over there and (say) ‘What’s that? That’s the dinosaur. Let’s stop over there. Let’s see what’s going on,’” he said. “… They’ll see the signage as they go through to know that this is the fossil park and purpose of it. … It’s designed to get people’s attention, and apparently it has.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.