World's Largest Penguin

Cut Bank, Montana, United States

Animals and creatures

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A concrete cartoon penguin about 27 feet tall stands on Main Street in Cut Bank, Montana, with a sign reading “Welcome to Cut Bank MT, Coldest Spot in the Nation”. It dates from 1989 and is billed as the world’s largest penguin statue.

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World's Largest Penguin

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Approximate location · 48.633° N, 112.332° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

A concrete penguin 27 feet tall greets visitors to a Montana town that claims to be the coldest spot in the nation.

The statue stands on Main Street in Cut Bank. Glacier Country tourism calls it the World’s Largest Penguin Statue, gives its height as 27 feet and dates it to 1989; a photograph taken in June 1989 in the Montana State University Library’s Ivan Doig Archive shows the penguin with its sign, “Welcome to Cut Bank MT. Coldest Spot in the Nation”. Montana Mint reported in 2014 that it is about 10,000 pounds of concrete and stands outside the Glacier Gateway Inn; a local business owner told the paper it once talked through a microphone. Montana Beyond reports that the loudspeaker was removed in 2004.

According to Montana Beyond (2025), it was built by a local resident in front of his family’s appliance store at the east end of town, which later became a hotel, after a bitterly cold morning inspired a tribute to the weather. Penguin-shaped trash cans had stood in town before the statue, and the source says it is not known where that symbol came from. The Montana Beyond article gives the height as both 27 and 25 feet.

The slogan is contested. A Library of Congress photograph caption notes that the claim is debated: Rogers Pass, Montana, reached −70 degrees Fahrenheit in 1954, and International Falls, Minnesota, calls itself the “Icebox of the Nation”. Montana Beyond says Cut Bank is not officially the coldest spot in the nation.

Montana Beyond says the film Cut Bank was shot in Innisfree, Alberta, where a replica penguin still stands. Glacier Country’s visitor blog, updated in May 2026, lists the original statue among things to do in town.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A roadside concrete statue on Cut Bank’s Main Street, which a 2014 report placed outside the Glacier Gateway Inn. Glacier Country’s visitor blog (updated May 2026) lists it among things to do in town. A sign on the statue reads “Welcome to Cut Bank MT, Coldest Spot in the Nation”.

ACCESS

Visible from the street on Main Street in Cut Bank; a 2014 report placed it outside the Glacier Gateway Inn, a business property.

COMMUNITY