To explain Old Ben the Bull you have to first understand that Old Ben the Bull is not really a bull at all. In fact he is a steer. But even that is not entirely accurate. Old Ben was a bull, then a steer but now he is stuffed, mounted and he lives in the central and largest park of my home town, Kokomo IN. I mention Ben because he is important to me. You see for years when I had to make a decision about almost anything I went to visit Ben. I determined my career path would be public service while viewing Ben. I decided to get married while visiting Ben. I proposed to my lovely wife in front of Ben, I spent time considering almost every important decision in my young life while visiting Ben. The morning I was diagnosed with diabetes and before I saw the doctor I went to visit Old Ben.
As you already know Ben is in the park in Kokomo IN. But to understand Ben you have to also know that Ben is over 100 years old. It is believed that Ben weighed 125 lbs. at birth, and at 20 months he weighed more than a 2,000 lbs. and in 1906 he weighed over 4,000 lbs. His size made Ben quite the celebrity. Ben was 6 1/2 feet tall at the shoulder, 14 feet around and 16 1/4 feet from his nose to the tip of his tail.
If Ben were human he might have been considered a candidate for type 2 diabetes, after all he was overweight and was said to abstain from vigorous exercise. Also like me and my type I diabetes, Ben had a genetic anomaly that made him grow very large. So while there was no evidence that Ben was diabetic, I did see a diabetic connection.
In 1910 Ben fell and broke his leg. This meant Ben had to be put down. So what to do? Ben was a big attraction and the farmer knew a great thing when he saw it so he stuffed Ben and kept him on the road doing county fairs and local appearances.
Ben’s popularity began to fade almost immediately upon his death. It was found that the Beef obtained from Ben was not popular. It was reported that Ben’s beef was tough and besides who wants to eat the beloved Ben the bull, apparently no one the grocer who purchased the Beef could not sell it .
Along with the trouble selling the Beef, Ben’s appearance income started to drop. Apparently folks liked seeing the live and growing Ben the Bull (who was not really a bull but a steer), but seeing a stuffed Bull, started to lose its appeal. So in 1919, Ben was either donated to or purchased by the City of Kokomo for $300.00. He was then placed on display in Highland Park.
Over time Ben became a symbol for my home town. Imagine the symbol of your city being a bull that is really a stuffed steer? It is of course pretty hokey even for a place with down home sensibilities such as Kokomo IN. It is precisely this hokeyness that makes Ben such a celebrity in my city.
Of course there are some issues. First Ben became the object of high School pranks. Let’s face it how can you place a stuffed Bull in your main park and not attract mischief. Over the years Ben lost his tail not once or twice but at least three times. He lost his left ear at least once and while many called this vandalism, many more called it pure down home fun. Each time a local processor had to prepare a new tail or ear taken from another bull and give it to the city for replacement. But then something else was discovered, Ben is a biohazard. In 1910 when Ben was stuffed, it was common to use arsenic in the process and sure enough Ben is full of arsenic. No wonder the city had to dispatch workers to continually clean up expired moths in the Ben viewing area.
While I worked for the City in the late 1980’s the issue of Ben finally reached a critical mass. Here we had two of our main tourist attractions a large hallow stump and Ben separated by a road. When people came to visit they would exit their car and immediately be in a quandary. Do they go see Ben first or the massive stump? Ben, stump, stump Ben? It was very confusing and of course the city was getting well over 1 out of town visitor per year to see these attractions per year.
Finally the city could no longer stand this situation so a new structure was built next to the stump to house our beloved Ben and this time protect him from the rampage of youth that was slowly eroding his very being. Let’s face it Ben only had so many ears to give and brutalizing his tail could no longer go on.
When the big day came, Ben was dressed in large surfer shorts and oversized sun glasses in accordance with theme the of the day taken from the 1988 song ‘Kokomo’ performed by the Beach Boys and mounted on a fake surf board to make the journey to his new home next to the stump. Ben was then pushed across the street with the music blaring and some folks said they even detected a new smile on his face as he received the attention of the crowd. They clapped and cheered as he took his position in a newly constructed larger pavilion.
Unfortunately, the day was not entirely without detractors. At least one disgruntled person sent a letter to the local newspaper complaining that in moving Ben in his stylish surfer shorts and oversized sun glasses he had been disgraced. Still, the general mood of the community was in favor of the celebrity status Ben was afforded on this on that day.
So what is the meaning we can take from this tale? I think that even tough Ben the Bull/Steer proved to be different from his peers he still persevered; he even found immortality albeit next to the stump in a beautiful park.
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