Who is overlooking the city?
The statues, known as the Green Goddesses, were once shrouded in mystery. They were placed on the old Waterloo courthouse sometime after 1906. The artist Robeder De Glass created six statues in total. For around 50 years, nobody knew what the statues were called, so locals called them the Six Goddesses. In 1940, the statues were almost sent off to war as scrap metal. Thankfully, an unknown person objected by stating they were “about the only art in the county.” In 1957, a tragedy occurred when one of the Goddesses fell due to a rusted pipe in the old building. This shined a spotlight on the forgotten statues above the Courthouse, and the residents of Waterloo wanted to know their names. A law firm secretary identified the statues as Agriculture, Science, and Industry, then Justice, Knowledge, and Peace. However, people were not sure which statue was which. Flash forward to 1963, where the Black Hawk County court chose to lease a statue to Upper Iowa University. In 1964, the statue now known as Peace, was placed on the bell tower of Alaxander Dickman Hall, where she remains to this day. Though it is uncertain, the statue known as Industry was possibly destroyed or damaged during the courthouse demolition. The remaining four statues were moved to storage until they officially decided where to place them. At this time, many people in Waterloo thought they should end up in a landfill because of their “sheer ugliness”. They were likened to an eerie and ruined building. As Clark Lichty, a chairman at the time, stated, “Up close, they are not pretty. These are ladies that are pretty the further away you get them.” In 1964, the county decided not to place the remaining Goddesses, Justice, Knowledge, Agriculture, and Science, onto the new courthouse. Instead, they were put onto what is now known as the old YMCA building. The decision was made due to the statues' controversial appearance, which at the time, some locals found unattractive. Now, the four statues are beloved by Waterloo locals. The iconic statues are known as the Green Godesses who overlook the Cedar River.
