Remembering the Brooklyn Bridge Elephant Stampede That Never Happened

By
Shumita Basu
WNYC News | Sep 13, 2017

There's a new monument sitting in Brooklyn Bridge Park: a trio of cold-cast bronze elephants, with a plaque dedicating the statue to the victims of the Brooklyn Bridge Elephant Stampede of 1929.

Okay, so it's a satirical piece of art by Staten Island-based sculptor Joe Reginella (the same artist behind last year's Staten Island Ferry Octopus Disaster statue). But the difference is, this elephant statue has a grain of truth.

WNYC's Shumita Basu speaks with Reginella to untangle fact from unfact and to unspool a bit of Brooklyn Bridge history, which does, in fact, involve elephants.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the location of the statue. The piece is in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

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Shumita Basu

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