Go Retire Psychiatrist

I thought it would be interesting to share a few remarks (some of which are tangential) about one of the recently installed sculptures included with the collection you can see in the Iowa City parks. It’s part of the Sculptors Showcase for 2026-28 in Iowa City, which I posted about on August 26, 2026.

We’re still waiting for the plaques to be installed which will identify the artists and the titles of the sculptures.

The one that prompts old memories for me is the sculpture of what looks very much like a land surveyor’s plumb bob. While we were on the Iowa River Trail adjacent to Napoleon Park, we actually spoke with a young man doing some surveying work there. I think the consulting engineer company, Bolton & Menk, might be part of the project involving renovation of the softball fields, although I can’t say for sure.

You can find many pictures of plumb bobs on the web, just to see for yourselves how the sculpture resembles one. The plumb bob has been used for thousands of years in surveying to find the local vertical direction pointing toward gravity and which helps the surveyor find the corresponding mark on the steel tape in making measurements. The history goes way back to the time of the ancient Egyptian pyramids of Giza!

And we saw a large new sign on the Iowa River Trail that gives a short history of the Napoleon settlement, which was the first settlement in what eventually became Iowa City. One of the first things you notice is that the Iowa state flag got its color background from the French flag.

Because it’s difficult to read the small print from the photo, you can appreciate Iowa City historian, Irving Weber giving an excellent historical presentation about the Napoleon settlement below.