email: roadarch@outlook.com

Mississippi Statues

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Centaur [gone?]
Water Valley, MS (later Oxford, MS)
This concrete Centaur statue was built by John Steele Davis in 2014. It was installed in front of Rasputan's Sandwich Shop. The restaurant closed but the statue remained. Just after these photos were taken in 2019, the statue was moved to Local Color in Oxford. That business closed in 2021 and the building was demolished. I don't know if the Centaur was saved and moved elsewhere.

Big John
Walls, MS

2003:
2007:
2010:
2019:
This Big John statue is located at a seasonal fireworks lot near the Tennessee and Mississippi border, just south of Memphis. By 2010, the statue had been repainted. This statue was originally used by the Big John Supermarket chain. His outstretched arms held bags of groceries. I don't know if there were ever Big John stores in Mississippi or Tennessee. This statue may have come from a Giant Foods in Memphis, TN. In 2017, this statue was repainted again. He now wears sunglasses, a hat, a pink shirt, grey pants, and he has a gold tooth. The statue was also moved further back on the lot. In 2022, the hat was gone and it appears that the statue has been repainted again. For more, see this website. [map]

For more examples of these statues, see this page.

More Mississippi:
Astronaut (Biloxi)
Golden Fisherman (Biloxi) [gone]
Colonel Sanders (Meridian)

Statues Main Page