Popeye Statue, Segar Memorial Park, Chester, Illinois

Popeye squares up on his granite plinth in Elzie C. Segar Memorial Park beside the Chester Bridge, photographed in 2015. Chester is where Segar, the cartoonist who created the sailor, was born in 1894, and local lore says he based Popeye on a tough townsman named Rocky Fiegel. The 6-foot, 900-pound bronze was dedicated in June 1977 after a big fundraising drive, and it now anchors a trail of statues of Olive Oyl, Wimpy and the rest of the cast around town.