In the mid-19th century, a British display of dinosaur models by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins caused a stir all the way to New York. The commissioners of Central Park - then under construction - were impressed enough to invite Hawkins to work for them. He was to furnish a large dinosaur diorama for a Paleozoic Museum, which was being excavated inside the park.

Hawkins set up a studio in the Central Park Arsenal in the late 1860s and began the construction of his models. Unfortunately his otherwise popular project fell victim to the machinations of the Tweed Ring. Tweed's thugs broke into Hawkins' studio and demolished the models, drawings, and cast skeletons. The foundation of the now doomed Paleozoic Museum was filled in and forgotten. The broken dinosaur models were buried in Central Park, never to be recovered.

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Together with Carl Mehling of the American Museum of Natural History, Ars Subterranea has been working to commemorate Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins' lost dinosaur models and the doomed Paleozoic Museum in Central Park. Our goal is to erect a monument at the site of the museum, based on Hawkins' original designs and constructed by the museum exhibit technician Dennis Wilson. The New York Times just published an article on our efforts. We will post further updates as we make progress with our proposal.

If you'd like to find out more about this story, we can recommend the book "The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins", featuring wonderful illustrations by Brian Selznick. The failed plans for the Paleozoic Museum, which later gave rise to the American Museum of Natural History, remains a fascinating chapter in the city's cultural development.