County of Statue: Cochise County.
Location of Statue: Railroad St. & Maley St., Railroad Park, Willcox
Date Statue Erected: July 4, 1991
Sculptor: Buck McCain
Foundry: Desert Crucible, Inc
Sponsors: The City of Willcox, The Rex Allen Arizona Cowboys Museum, Sulphur Springs Valley Historical Society
There are four plaques at this statue. One to the East of the statue, one to the west, one at his feet, called the boulder plaque, and one at street level called the dedication plaque.
Marker Text of the East Plaque:
Born December 31, 1920
To Horace and Faye Allen in Willcox, Rex Elivie Allen was crossed eyed at birth.
As a young boy, Rex sang in the barber shop on this very street. He and his dad played for dances and rodeos in the 30's and he excelled in glee clubs and church choirs.
Rex left home determined to find his place in the career he loved - music. In 1945 at WLS radio in Chicago, he gained nationwide popularity on "The National Barn Dance."
In 1946 he married Bonnie Linder, the mother of his children: Rex Jr., Curtis, Mark, and Bonita Allen.
Through the Golden Age of Radio, Rex Allen starred with the greats: Red Foley, Lulu Belle and Scotty, and George Gobel.
Marker text of the West plaque:
Rex Allen's recording career was launched with Mercury Records in 1946 and spanned 30 years. The song that became his trademark, " Streets of Laredo", sold over 3 million copies.
In 1949 Rex signed with Republic Pictures in Hollywood, the motion picture studio responsible for the careers of John Wayne, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers. Starring in 19 action-packed westerns with "Ko-Ko" through 1954, Rex was the last of the "Silver Screen Cowboys."
In the television years of 1955 - 1956, Rex starred in 39 episodes of "Frontier Doctor."
During the next three decades, Rex and Koko appeared at every major rodeo in the U.S. and Canada. His golden voice has been heard on hundreds of commercials over the years, and he narrated more than 100 Nature films for Walt Disney.
Marker text of the Boulder Plaque:
"I'm proud to say I was the last of the Silver Screen Cowboys! What an era in film history! It was part of two generations of kids growing up in America. I like to feel that it had a positive and moral influence on them."
Proper description of statue as provided by the Smithsonian Institute:
A plaza setting, with at one end, a full-length portrait of singer Rex Allen reclining against a boulder backdrop. The young Rex Allen is seen dressed in cowboy garb - boots, jeans, western shirt with bandanna around neck, and cowboy hat. He also wears a horseshoe ring on his proper left pinky finger. He is holding a guitar, which rests on his bent proper right knee. The pink-stained concrete plaza is imprinted with numerous Arizona cattle brands and Rex Allen's signature. Five bronze plaques inset in plaza or on boulders give details of Allen's career and commemorate his stallion Ko Ko.