The statue of John Henry has been in the same spot on top of the Great Bend Tunnel in Talcott since the 1970's, but Wednesday it was removed to ultimately be placed in a new location.
For more than 15 years volunteers have been working to create a park to honor John Henry and the railroads.
Rick Moorefield the Co-Chair of the committee was excited about the progress, "We've been raising money every since to build our dream. Today we are nearing our completion of phase 1 of the project."
Phase one of the project includes, a parking lot, entrance into the park itself, and maintenance repairs to the statue.
JK Rose with Concrete Union was in charge for bringing the statue off its stone pedestal and to the ground.
Rose said he was happy to offer his service to the project to get the statue repaired, "despite the vandalism and target practice he's got several holes in him from over the years and that's a shame."
Once the repairs are completed the statue will be placed at the bottom of the Great Bend Tunnel to welcome visitors into the park.
"To have our doors open and welcome to visitors is very exciting," said Moorfield.
So far the park has been funded with the help of the community and volunteers raising 50,000. The park was originally estimated to cost 2.7 million dollars, but Moorefield said he is happy to at least get this much done.
Moorefield said the committee has recently got a grant writer to help in the assisting of funds.
"We still have a lot of work to do here in our tunnel area and it takes money which we don't have. We've broke the bank so to speak on phase one," said Moorefield.
Contributions can be made by contacting Rick Moorefield at the West Virginia Extension Office at 304-466-7113.
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