Dr. Evermor's Forevertron Steampunk Park -- Steampunk Before Steampunk Was Cool

Dr. Evermor's Forevertron in Wisconsin,USA, made by Tom Every

     Before naming the genre of steampunk was a glimmer in anyone's eye, an innovative self-described collector of junk saw the potential in the mechanical wonders that surrounded him, and in 1983 began construction on what is now one of the most impressive works of metal art in the USA.

"Dr. Evermor's Forevertron is the largest scrap metal sculpture in the world, standing 50 ft. (15,2 m.) high and 120 ft. (36,5 m.) wide, and weighing 300 tons. It is housed in Dr. Evermore's Art Park on Highway 12, in the town of Sumpter, in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States." -- WikiPedia entry on Forevertron

     There, one will find fantastic weapons, gazebos, telescopes, animals, vehicles, robots, insects, and even pieces that defy classification in this massive park of the neverwas.  Dioramas containing all of the above each  tell their part of a story....

More of the Forevertron

     The story begins with Dr. Evermor (a character created by Tom Every of Brooklyn, Wisconsin).  The good doctor hails from Victorian times, and has created the Forevertron to launch himself into the heavens on a magnetic force beam to escape this world... after he has been reduced to the proper size to fit inside the glass ball in a copper egg of the Forevertron, of course.

     A huge orchestra of seventy metal birds, some up to 20 feet tall, made from brass bedposts, highway markers, and gasoline nozzles, have gathered to play some dramatic theme music to accompany the historic launch.

Forevertron peacock

The telescope provides a way for onlookers to view Dr. Evermor's ascent while Queen Victoria and Prince Albert take their afternoon tea in the nearby fancy tea house gazebo.

The Tea House

The Grand Telescope

     Some of the over 1,000 tons of materials used to create this tribute to the industrial age include: x-ray machines, engines, entire vehicles, a river barge, and the decontamination module of an Apollo spacecraft.  All of the designs were completed from Every's brain; he used no blueprints or calculations to balance the often precariously positioned heavy objects.


     Entering "Evermor" or "Forevertron" on Flickr will fetch hundreds more photos of this marvelous park.  The decades that the artist spent collecting the materials for his vision certainly paid off in the variety and sheer size and detail of the works he was able to create.


The PBS Travelogue mentions how to find the park:

"The Forevertron is located behind Delaney’s Surplus, across the highway from the Badger Army Ammunition Factory on State Highway 12, seven miles south of Baraboo, Wisconsin and seven miles north of Prairie du Sac. It can be visited on Monday through Saturday from 9AM to 5PM and on Sunday from 12 to 5PM."




all photos from Zuzu.com and Flickr.com

   

As of 2011, there were plans to move all of the sculptures of the Forevertron to the now closed Badger Army Ammunition Plant and create a national monument.  The base will provide all the power needed to support both the Forvertron and an artistic community; The Evermor Foundation Historical Artistic Memorial Sculpture Park, also named The Timebinder.  Once completed, the park will look like an eye when viewed from Earth orbit.

 

This video shows the works of Tom Every, his wife Eleanor, and their son.  They have all created hundreds of metal sculptures, each one unique.  It also contains interviews with the artists, and shows the base to which they want to move the sculptures.