The Story Behind “The Herd” Cow Sculptures Along Winters Freeway
“The Herd” was installed in 1987 by the Winters Freeway as a permanent display after a temporary exhibit in downtown Abilene as part of the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council's Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition. But the herd is not complete.
Within three months of being put on exhibit, someone stole the baby calf standing next to its momma in the display. To this day that calf has never been recovered, and the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council would love to bring it home. If you've seen it in a barn or hidden somewhere, please return it.
"'The Herd' was completed in 1985 and had been exhibited grazing its way across the Lone Star State until 1987 when it was permanently placed in Abilene," said Sidney Levesque, marketing director for the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council. "Artist Wayne Amerine’s creation is a fun adaptation of a paper-cut-out style of intersecting planes thus creating a three-dimensional sculpture bringing a peacefully pastoral herd of Holsteins to life."
Abilene's Cultural Affairs Council has asked for years for the return of The Herd's baby calf
If you are traveling across Texas and would like to see "The Herd", the actual address is 1765 South Danville Drive in Abilene. The sculpture is situated next to Abilene Fire Station Number 6 and represents the history of Abilene being a cowtown.
Artist Wayne Amerine was born in Great Bend, Kansas. He studied art at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, and at Kansas City Art Institute where he graduated with honors in 1949. Amerine was a Korean War Veteran serving in the U.S. Air Force. He was later commissioned by the U.S. Navy as a Combat Artist in Vietnam.
Amerine passed away in 2009, but his creation of The Herd lives on forever along the Winters Freeway.