Building starts on Stonehenge

By David J. Lee
Odessa American

There wasn’t a druid in sight.
In fact, it was modern men in hard hats who used cranes to lift Odessa’s version of Stonehenge into place Saturday.
Instead of carved stone from a Welsh quarry, Garden City limestone will make up the not-so-ancient stone calendar at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.
About 20 blocks — replicas of the ancient megalith in southwest England — were placed Saturday on carefully laid foundations on the northeast side of UTPB.
As the workers began moving stones, dust blew across the site, reminiscent of an early-morning British fog.
“I think we’re going to have the culmination of months of planning,” Dick Gillham, Permian Basin Stonehenge coordinator, said at the site.
Gillham said it should take until the end of the month to fit all 40 blocks into place.
The replica will stand at 70 percent of the original structure’s height, Gillham said. While the tallest stone in England reaches 22 feet, the Odessa version will clock in at 19 feet.
However, the horizontal dimensions will match the original’s.
The Permian Basin reproduction will be built of pre-cut stones donated by Connie and Brenda Edwards, owners of TexaStone in Garden City. It will require 0.3 acres of land.
Although much of Permian Basin Stonehenge will be built with volunteer labor, costs of transportation, concrete settings, sidewalks and landscaping will cost about $50,000, UTPB Public Information Officer Myra Salcedo said.
Individual and corporate donors have donated all of that money, Gillham said.
“We’ve had widespread community support,” he said.
As the stones were guided into place Saturday in a field across 42nd Street from Home Depot, motorists slowed to watch and people walking UTPB’s roads took time to gaze at the modern imitation.
“Anytime you see something other than a pumpjack in Odessa, you’re increasing your culture,” Jason Moore, of Odessa, said. “Anything different in Odessa is a good thing.”
Joel Locke, of Odessa, said he was impressed with the time and effort put into Odessa’s Stonehenge.
“I think it’s incredible,” Locke said. “This is really going to be something to see in Odessa.”
Teresa Sanford, also of Odessa, agreed.
“It’s going to be a really good deal,” she said.
Chris Stanley, chairman of UTPB’s humanities and fine arts department said as a tourist attraction, the sculpture would benefit Odessa.
“There’ll be people coming onto campus, people pulling off I-20 to see something like this,”
Stanley said previously. “If they come off to see Stonehenge, they might go visit the museums, might go have lunch and might find a whole bunch of other wonderful things to do in Odessa.”