Rex dinosaur

Leavenworth, Kansas, United States

·

Animals and creatures

✓

Current

Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Rex is a 25-foot tyrannosaurus statue on the 800 block of Spruce Street in Leavenworth, Kansas, built in 1977 as the mascot of the Kiddieland amusement park, which ran from 1948 to 1998. He stayed after the park was demolished and, according to the city's visitor guide, stands by Crown Lanes Bowling Alley.

Private to your Passport.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

No recommended arrival yet

We have not checked a recommended place to arrive or stop here yet.

This takes you to the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Rex dinosaur

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Approximate location · 39.311° N, 94.922° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

A concrete dinosaur outliving the amusement park he was built for is a fair summary of Rex. On June 9, 1977, The Leavenworth Times reported that Carl Theel, owner of Theel Manufacturing and Amusement, had wanted to build the statue for 10 years and was finally doing it. Rex became the mascot of Kiddieland, Theel's small children's amusement park on the 800 block of Spruce Street, which operated from 1948 to 1998.

Roadside America describes him as a 25-foot, bulbous-headed, lime green cement tyrannosaurus whose arms are too spindly for effective bowling, and notes that Theel Manufacturing built carnival rides. The Leavenworth visitors bureau says a worker pictured in a 1977 photo had to climb inside the head to fasten wire mesh to steel reinforcement bars during construction. His colours have changed over the years, and his eyes no longer have the red glow his original designer imagined.

When Kiddieland closed and was demolished to make way for new businesses, Rex remained. The visitors bureau says residents often help patch, paint or repair him, and that when vandals threw fireworks into his mouth and destroyed his head in the 1990s there was public outcry about speedy repairs; the new head has a wire mesh cover. Fox 4 reported in 2019 that he was worn, with missing eyes and flaking paint, prompting a fundraiser to restore him, and dated him to the 1950s, although the city and a 1977 newspaper account date him to 1977.

Since 2002 his neighbour has been Crown Lanes Bowling Alley at 834 Spruce Street, which the visitors bureau says calls itself home of the green dinosaur. The statue stands outdoors beside the street.

Add a photo

PRACTICAL

Plan your stop

WHAT TO EXPECT

An outdoor statue on a city street in Leavenworth. Admission, hours and access terms are not documented in the sources reviewed; check locally before visiting.

ACCESS

834 Spruce Street, Leavenworth, Kansas, beside Crown Lanes Bowling Alley (Stop 17 on the city's Mural and Statue Safari). Outdoor statue on a city street.

COMMUNITY

Visitor Log

WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

✓

Current

World's Largest Ball of String

Weston, Missouri

A roughly 19-foot-circumference, 3,712-pound ball of string built over decades by Westonite Finley Stephens (starting in the 1950s, using postal string saved by neighboring postmasters), originally the centerpiece of his own Gateway to the West Museum, now displayed on the back deck of the Bowman Restaurant / O'Malley's Irish Pub in Weston, Missouri -- a physically distinct object from the already-catalogued 'World's Largest Ball of String' at Ripley's in Branson, roughly 200 miles away.

Roadside giants

·

12 km away

TRANSPARENCY

Sources & research

Something not right?

If this Big Thing has changed, moved or gone, telling us keeps the guide honest for the next traveller.

Suggest an update →Report a problem →