From the University of Kansas website:
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"After World War I there was a national movement to declare U.S. 40 the "Highway of Victory" from coast to coast and to place memorial markers at every county line. Each marker would have an identical bronze sculpture of an eagle, with a bronze plaque on the pedestal listing the county's fallen soldiers. H.G. Van Neste donated a site for the Douglas County marker on his farmland north of Mud Creek Bridge. But over time Highway 40 was no longer a major route; the Douglas County marker was ignored and eventually vandalized and the plaque stolen.
In 1980 state highway police found the eagle toppled in the mud. Tom Swearingen, director of exhibits for Dyche Museum, by chance came upon a patrol truck towing the sculpture away and requested it for the museum. The state claimed it and gave it to KU. The Victory Eagle was rededicated in the spring of 1982 outside the main entrance of Dyche Hall. A 1990 plaque gives its history. Unfortunately the artist who sculpted the Eagle and the foundry where it was cast are not known."
From the Smithsonian Sculpture website:
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"Artist: Roberts, Thomas F., sculptor.
Widman, Otto, sculptor.
Dates: Cast 1920. Relocated 1980. Dedicated April 25, 1982.
Medium: Sculpture: bronze; Base: limestone.
Dimensions: Sculpture: approx. 3 ft. 8 in. x 7 ft. 6 in. x 3 ft. 1 in.; Base: approx. 7 ft. 6 in. x 5 ft. x 3 ft. 7 in.
Description: An eagle poised over two young eaglets in a nest. The eagle's wings are spread to protect its young. The sculpture is placed atop a base of mortared limestone.
Remarks: The sculpture was erected to commemorate those who died in World War I. It was originally installed on the Douglas-Leavenworth County Line, on Highway 40, as part of a larger plan to rename the highway as Victory Highway and to install massive monuments at each end. The sculpture was relocated to its present site in 1982.
For related information see the University Daily Kansan, Feb. 20, 1981; March 26, 1982; The Oread, April 23, 1982, pg. 1; Aug. 21, 1983, pg. 4-5; and the Alumni Magazine (KU), 1981: pg. 12.
Plaque immediately in front of base of sculpture reads: THE VICTORY EAGLE/ERECTED ON THE "VICTORY HIGHWAY," U.S. 40,/AT THE LEAVENWORTH/DOUGLAS COUNTY LINE/AS A MEMORIAL/TO THOSE FROM DOUGLAS COUNTY WHO DIED/IN WORLD WAR I/RELOCATED TO THIS SITE IN 1980/CAST UNDER THE DIRECTION OF/DR. THOMAS F. ROBERTS/DR. OTTO WIDMAN/PLAQUE DONATED BY/THE THOMAS C. RYTHER FAMILY."