Bronze Pioneer Mom and Baby

Shawnee, Kansas

Four different pioneer trails crossed through Shawnee during its Old West days. The town -- now a suburb of Kansas City -- decided to celebrate its sesquicentennial in 2006 by erecting a sculpture in honor of the settlers who just kept passing through. An entire, full-size section of a wagon train is sculpted in bas relief on a upright slab: wagon, horses, men, even a boy and his dog. A position of honor, however, has been reserved for the pioneer mom and baby, who stand separate as a life-size bronze statue, heading west, their faces burnished from either hopeful thoughts or too much prairie sun.