RETRO INDY

Willie the Whale has been saved - yet again

Dawn Mitchell
dawn.mitchell@indystar.com
Willie the Whale at the old Indianapolis Zoo April 8, 1965.

Originally published April 21, 2015 as "Whatever Happened to Willie the Whale"

Visitors to the Indianapolis Zoo's original East 30th Street home will remember Willie the Whale. Wille was a fiberglass structure at the edge of the lake. His sleepy expression and open mouth beckoned children to enter and view the fish below from his glass floor.

Willie, along with George the giraffe, a “talking frog” and several other fiberglass features were created by Richard Kishel, former Ball State professor and operator of Art Forms workshop in Muncie.

On April 18, 1964, the city's first zoo opened to the public. It closed Nov. 1, 1987, in preparation for the move Downtown to a new site five times the size of the old one. When the new zoo in White River State Park opened on June 11, 1988, Willie was not among the 500 animals relocated.

Willie the Whale was painted black when he took up residence at the Fun Spot Amusement Park in Angola.

Willie washed ashore at the Eastside water park called Boogie Mountain near Shadeland Avenue and I-70. When that business closed several years ago, Willie and the water rides found a new home at the Fun Spot Amusement Park & Zoo in Angola, Ind. The whale was painted black and given more defined and "happier" facial features. The Fun Spot fell victim to an economic downturn and closed in 2008.

Willie the Whale sat in dry dock among the ruins of the abandoned park until 2015 when he was sold to the city of Rushville with intentions of making him a roadside attraction or piece of outdoor public art for the city. Rushville mayor, Mike Pavey, got the idea of saving Willie when he saw this original story on the iconic statue.

In 2016, Willie was the center of attention when the Indianapolis Museum of Art opened its miniature golf course featured a slightly renovated Willie as the 18th hole.

Earlier this year, the city of Kokomo purchased Willie and contracted Justin Olson of Olson Paint Studios in Indianapolis to restore him to his original color. Olson has reached out to Indianapolis Facebook nostalgia pages in hopes of finding Willie's true-self. "The feedback we’ve been getting is positive so far," Olson said.