The Naked Truth Statue
A nude bronze woman, a brewing fortune and a monument controversial before it was even unveiled.
The Naked Truth Statue
The Naked Truth is one of St. Louis's strangest public monuments: a 1914 bronze figure commissioned to honor German-American newspaper editors and funded in large part by Adolphus Busch.
The Story
The German-American Alliance commissioned a monument honoring three influential editors of the German-language Westliche Post: Carl Schurz, Emil Preetorius and Carl Daenzer. Adolphus Busch was the major donor and helped initiate the design competition.
German sculptor Wilhelm Wandschneider's nude allegorical figure of Truth immediately created controversy. Bronze was chosen in part to deemphasize the nudity, but the figure remained unapologetically exposed, with torches symbolizing enlightenment.
Highway construction forced the monument to move within Reservoir Park in 1969. Its strange mixture of journalism, German-American identity, brewing money and public scandal makes it one of the city's most revealing monuments.
What Remains Today
The 1914 bronze statue survives in Compton Hill Reservoir Park near the Compton Hill Water Tower and has been a St. Louis City Landmark since 1969.
Visiting Information
The monument can be viewed from the public park. Access to the nearby water tower is separate and limited to scheduled openings.
Location
1938 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri 63104
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