Council Bluffs, Iowa: Boy and the Boot (In Transition)

Council Bluffs acquired its Boy and the Boot (there are over two dozen others across the county) in 1890. At first he was the showpiece of Fairmount Park, standing on a little rock in the middle of Swan Lake. But by 1912 he was gone, and he spent the next several decades in various locations around the city.

In 1983 he was installed as part of a fountain inside the city's downtown Midlands Mall. Then the Mall closed and was turned into the Omni Centre Business Park -- but the Boy didn't leave. He's still there, although no longer part of a fountain. And because the Business Park is privately owned, the Boy cannot currently be seen by the public. But he's outlasted plenty of previous homes, so he should come out of hiding eventually.

(Earlier tips that the Boy was in the basement of Wichita's General Dodge House Museum were incorrect.)

I'm almost 100% sure the Boy with the Boot statue from Midlands Mall is not located in the basement of the Dodge House. Having worked at the Dodge House and spent lots of time there, I don't ever remember seeing it there, and it's certainly not the type of item that would appear in the house. The only items displayed are those that have a connection with the Dodge family.

You have a blurb about the Boy With the Boot in the Omni Business center in Council Bluffs (I don't believe there is a fountain there any more.) At last check (which admittedly was 5 or 6 years ago) he resides in the basement - cellar area of the General Dodge house. There is not much down there but some historical "junk," but it is on the tour of the house and the Boy With the Boot stands at the very end, near a display of old fashioned candy.

The Midlands Mall has reopened as "The Omni Center" which is just a fancy name for office space, the Boy with the Boot is still on display, even though he did get kicked off of the fountain. Now he can be found just down the hall standing in a corner.

We used to have a Boy with a Boot statue here in Council Bluffs. The last I remember, it was in the middle of a wishing well fountain in the Midlands Mall downtown. When the mall closed the statue disappeared. I'll try to find out what happened to it.