Dubbed “Leo,” the lion is now standing guard in West Chester Twp.’s Beckett Park, a lion’s leap or two from the township’s historic Muhlhauser Barn just off Beckett Road.
Thanks to the generosity of Leo’s previous owners — and $3,800 paid from the Muhlhauser Barn Fund at the Northern Cincinnati Foundation — the statue was recently hoisted to its new home on the barn’s grounds.
According to an announcement from West Chester officials on the statue’s arrival, the Windisch-Muhlhauser Brewing Company was once one of the most successful breweries in America, if not the world.
The Windisch-Muhlhauser Brewing Company was built along the canal in Over-the-Rhine (OTR). The Central Parkway property is today adjacent to TQL Stadium, home of FC Cincinnati and Major League Soccer.
“Before Prohibition, many of Cincinnati’s prosperous beer barons, the Windisches and Muhhausers included, owned large summer homes on Butler County, Ohio farms, where they would grow, harvest and store crops like barley, wheat and hops — ingredients needed to make beer,” according to township officials.
“The prolific brew house in Over-the-Rhine was built in the Romanesque Revival style … and is said to have matched its owners’ high regard for their million-dollar company and Bavarian roots.
“Perched high above the rooftops of this large five-story brick building lounged two giant lion statues, each weighing about the same as a real-life African forest elephant.
Dan and his wife Anne Doran of Ross Twp. contacted West Chester officials unexpectedly in the summer of 2023 with an intriguing offer.
“Would your community want a 10,000-pound stone lion?”
The Dorans were moving out of state and couldn’t take their prized pet with them, so they decided to re-home the lion to the park on Beckett Road, where part of its family’s lineage can be traced through the Muhlhauser Barn by way of the Miami Erie Cana, said officials.
Barb Wilson, spokeswoman for West Chester, said “we were thrilled to give it a home.”
“The Muhlhauser family was aware of the lions but didn’t know where they ended up. So, this felt like a full-circle moment,” said Wilson.
After Prohibition in 1933, the Burger Brewing Company began making beer at the original brewery leasing the plant for about a decade before purchasing the property. Burger operated and grew their business on the same OTR street corner from about 1934 to 1973.
“At some point there was concern that the lions posed a safety risk being so high in the air, so they were taken down,” Doran said. “Our family business was involved in the removal project, and my uncle wound up with the lions.”
Leo’s identical partner traveled around too and is now anchored on the other side of the street in the 5000 block of North Bend Road, in front of a family business in Hamilton County.
West Chester is happy to be Leo’s new home and there are plans to soon showcase him for visitors to Muhlhauser Barn park, said Wilson.
“This lion is again connected to its Muhlhauser heritage and it will be a really fun part of the community’s story moving forward. We’re working on an art event for families in the spring to welcome the lion and will be working to create a small plaza around the sculpture this spring as well.”
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