Eight Stone Lions

The Eight Stone Lions are eight limestone sculptures positioned at the entrances of two bridges within Lake Park overlooking Lake Michigan. Each pair marks a bridge crossing, with the works carved in stone to frame the pathways where people enter and exit the structures.

These sculptures were donated to Milwaukee in 1897 by Henry Clay Payne following the design work of Paul Kupper and the carving execution by Otto Lachmund. The gift marked an important addition to the city's efforts to place art throughout its public green spaces.

These sculptures reflect a late 19th-century effort to enrich public spaces throughout Milwaukee's parks with decorative art. Today, they remain gathering points where visitors notice how public art shapes how people move through and experience green spaces.

The lions sit at bridge entrances throughout Lake Park, making them easy to spot while walking along the lakeside paths. You can view them from multiple angles as you move through the park, and they remain visible regardless of the season or time of day.

Designer Paul Kupper later created a massive badger sculpture for the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, years after completing these lions. This reveals how the artistic vision that shaped Lake Park extended to major civic monuments across the state.