Grants Pass Caveman

Grants Pass, Oregon, United States

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Current

Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A painted fiberglass caveman made by International Fiberglass and installed in 1971 outside the Grants Pass and Josephine County visitor centre. It represents the Oregon Cavemen, a booster club the 1999 article dates to 1922. The City of Grants Pass lists it at 22 feet high; a 1999 newspaper article called it 18 feet.

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Grants Pass Caveman

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Site-level location · 42.4618° N, 123.3229° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Grants Pass keeps a caveman at its front door, and in 1999 the local paper reported the town was debating it. The painted fiberglass figure is listed by the City of Grants Pass at the Grants Pass and Josephine County visitor centre on the north side of town, as made by the International Fiberglass Company and installed in 1971, with dimensions of 22 feet high, 10 feet wide and 10 feet deep.

It represents the Oregon Cavemen, a booster club. According to the Grants Pass Daily Courier in 1999, local business owners formed the club in 1922 to promote Oregon Caves National Monument and the area. Members dressed in animal skins, carried clubs and made surprise appearances when officials or celebrities came to town; the paper named Shirley Temple and Thomas Dewey among those ambushed, and said Ronald Reagan was made an honorary member in 1977.

The same article says the statue was made at International Fiberglass in Venice, California, for about $10,000, trucked up from Los Angeles and dedicated by then state senator Eugene "Debbs" Potts on Memorial Day weekend. It called the figure 18 feet tall. By then, it reported, evergreens hid the front and summer foliage covered most of him. The chamber's executive director said some residents wanted the statue hidden or moved; he liked it because it brought people to take pictures.

Travel Southern Oregon describes the visitor centre as having a lawn, RV and bus parking, an electric car charger, welcome bears and the Caveman.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

An outdoor statue on the grounds of the Grants Pass and Josephine County visitor centre. Travel Southern Oregon describes a lawn, RV and bus parking, an electric car charger and the welcome bears alongside the Caveman. A 1999 article reported trees screening the statue from the road.

ACCESS

At the visitor centre, 1995 NW Vine Street, Grants Pass, on the north side of town near Interstate 5. The City of Grants Pass lists the statue at this address as a public art sculpture.

COMMUNITY

Visitor Log

WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

The Black Bird is a 29-foot blackbird statue that Lee Hobbs built in 1965 in the parking lot of his Blackbird Shopping Center, an army surplus store at 1810 W Main Street, Medford, Oregon. It still stands in front of the store and turned 60 in 2025.

Characters and mascots

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38 km away

TRANSPARENCY

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