This frog-shaped rock watches over the entrance to the Heidelberg Materials limestone quarry on Ardmore Avenue in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
This rock is famous in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Decades ago (nobody can remember when...it was there when my parents were kids) someone realized that this large rock looked like a frog, and painted it green, with eyes and a yellow belly. At that time, the rock sat along Sandpoint Road, behind the quarry. Over the years it kept being repainted whenever the old paint began to wear.
No one knows who kept repainting it over the years, but eventually the quarry's management began to actively maintain it. The appearance changes a bit with each paint job. Once, when I was in high school, some kids painted it orange, with the label "Acid Frog" adorning the side of it! It soon reverted to the traditional green.
In the summer of 2012, the quarry's management had the Frog moved to a location next to the quarry's main entrance on Ardmore Avenue. The quarry had bought the part of Sandpoint Road where the Frog had been located, and they closed the road so that the quarry could expand. Because the Frog was a beloved local landmark, the company decided to preserve it.
The quarry has changed names and owners several times since the frog was first painted. In my lifetime, it has been May Stone and Sand, France Stone, Hanson Aggregates, and now Heidelberg Materials. The Frog has been there longer than any of them!
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