28 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

New suspect in greatest act of vandalism in the history of dinosaur study

Researchers from the University of Bristol are rewriting the history of paleontology’s darkest and most bizarre event.

Vandals with sledgehammers destroyed skeletons and models intended for display in New York’s first dinosaur museum before it was even finished in 1871.

For more than a century, historians believed William “Boss” Tweed, New York’s most powerful political figure at the time, was to blame. But now researchers have revisited the crime — and point to a new suspect in what they call the “greatest act of vandalism in the history of dinosaur study.”

However, a recent paper by Victoria Coules of Bristol’s Department of History of Art and Professor Michael Benton of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences sheds new light on the incident and, in contrast to earlier accounts, identifies who was actually behind the order and what drove them to such wanton destruction—an odd man by the name of Henry Hilton, the Treasurer and VP of Central Park.

Paleontology was still in its infancy in 1871, and new discoveries made all over the world stoked curiosity about the enormous extinct animals. The Paleozoic Museum was to feature the work of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, an English natural history artist who galvanized interest in dinosaurs in the United States with the display of the world’s first mounted dinosaur skeleton in Philadelphia in 1868.

Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkin's conceptual drawing of the Paleozoic Museum. Photo: Annual report of the Board of Commissioners of the Central Park (1858)
Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkin’s conceptual drawing of the Paleozoic Museum. Photo: Annual report of the Board of Commissioners of Central Park (1858)

Hawkins used fossil evidence to create full-sized models for elaborate dioramas in preparation for the New York Museum. However, the museum was canceled in 1870 by the Tweed-controlled Central Park board. Vandals destroyed all of Hawkins’ models, casts, and studio a few months later.

“It’s all to do with the struggle for control of New York City in the years following the American Civil War (1861-1865),” said Victoria Coules. “The city was at the center of a power struggle—a battle for control of the city’s finances and lucrative building and development contracts.”

As the city grew, the iconic Central Park was taking shape. More than just a green space, it was to have other attractions, including the Paleozoic Museum.

Professor Benton explains, “Previous accounts of the incident had always reported that this was done under the personal instruction of ‘Boss’ Tweed himself, for various motives from raging that the display would be blasphemous, to vengeance for a perceived criticism of him in a New York Times report of the project’s cancelation.”

 A, William “Boss” Tweed (1823–1878)
A, William “Boss” Tweed (1823–1878). Photo: Wikipedia

“Reading these reports, something didn’t look right,” Coules said. “At the time Tweed was fighting for his political life, already accused of corruption and financial wrong-doings, so why was he so involved in a museum project?” She added, “So we went back to the original sources and found that it wasn’t Tweed—and the motive was not blasphemy or hurt vanity.”

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and the Central Park Zoo were two additional projects in Central Park that were simultaneously under construction, which complicated the situation. But, as Professor Benton explained, “drawing on the detailed annual reports and minutes of Central Park, along with reports in the New York Times, we can show that the real villain was one strange character by the name of Henry Hilton.”

Coules adds, “Because all the primary sources are now available online, we could study them in detail—and we could show that the destruction was ordered in a meeting by the real culprit, Henry Hilton, the Treasurer and VP of Central Park—and it was carried out the day after this meeting.”

C, Henry Hilton (1824–1899)
C, Henry Hilton (1824–1899). Photo: Wikipedia

Professor Benton concluded, “This might seem like a local act of thuggery but correcting the record is hugely important in our understanding of the history of paleontology. We show it wasn’t blasphemy, or an act of petty vengeance by William Tweed, but the act of a very strange individual who made equally bizarre decisions about how artifacts should be treated—painting statues or whale skeletons white and destroying the museum models. He can be seen as the villain of the piece but as character, Hilton remains an enigmatic mystery.”

Hilton was already notorious for other eccentric decisions. When he noticed a bronze statue in the Park, he ordered it painted white, and when a whale skeleton was donated to the American Museum of Natural History, he had that painted white as well. Later in life, other ill-judged decisions included cheating a widow out of her inheritance, squandering a huge fortune, and trashing businesses and livelihoods along the way.

Cover Photo: Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins’s workshop with his mounted skeletons and life-size restorations of dinosaurs and other animals. (Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins Album/Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2023.04.004

Related Articles

Archaeologists discovered the first evidence of early administrative management in eastern Iran

21 June 2022

21 June 2022

Iranian archaeologists believe they have discovered the first evidence of early administrative management in an eastern Iranian province, which they...

Archaeologists find a 5,000-year-old piece of wood in Orkney, which they describe as “astonishing”

10 August 2021

10 August 2021

Archaeologists continue to make surprising discoveries in Orkney. Although organic materials are quite difficult to find, archaeologists have found a...

12 tombs with Beautiful Decorations and Carved Bricks from the period of Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, found in China

22 May 2023

22 May 2023

China has a rich history. In addition to the fossil records from the Paleolithic Period, the country has witnessed the...

New research determines portable toilets of the ancient Roman world

11 February 2022

11 February 2022

New research published today reveals how archeologists can determine when a pot was used by Romans as a portable toilet,...

The Mystery of the Hekatompedon: An Ancient Shepherd’s Graffiti Sheds New Light on the Mystery of the Acropolis’ Lost Temple

13 June 2024

13 June 2024

The Acropolis of Athens and its monuments, the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed to the world by ancient Greece,...

Ancient coins surface with Lake Iznik’s withdrawal in Türkiye

2 May 2023

2 May 2023

With the withdrawal of Lake Iznik in the northwest of Türkiye, the ancient coins found at the bottom of the...

7 Gold Pendants Found Buried by Ancient Scandinavian Elites as a Sacrifice to the Gods

13 May 2021

13 May 2021

7 gold necklaces were found in a field near the Norwegian municipality of Østfold County Rade. Researchers believe that these...

Archaeologists may have discovered the site where Otto the Great, founder of the Holy Roman Empire, died

5 October 2023

5 October 2023

Archaeologists believe they have found the site where Emperor Otto I (936-973), known as the Great, founder of the Holy...

An important Gallo-Roman worship complex was discovered near Rennes, France

13 June 2022

13 June 2022

An essential Gallo-Roman worship complex was unearthed by Inrap  (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research) archaeologists at Chapelle-des-Fougeretz (Ille-et-Vilaine), near...

3000 years old wooden wishing well discovered in Germany

7 January 2023

7 January 2023

In the town of Germering, in the Germany state of Bavaria, archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a well-preserved Bronze...

5,000-Year-Old “Küllüoba Bread” Discovered in Türkiye Reveals Ancient Baking and Fertility Rituals

30 May 2025

30 May 2025

5,000-year-old bread found in Küllüoba Höyük, Turkey reveals ancient baking methods and fertility rituals. Unique archaeological discovery with rich nutritional...

Botanical Findings Analysis from Biblical area of Goliath sheds Unprecedented Light on Philistine Ritual Practices

27 February 2024

27 February 2024

Bar-Ilan University researchers shed “unprecedented light” on Philistine ritual practices, such as the use of psychoactive and medicinal plants, by...

Archaeologists discover ‘exceptional’ ancient Roman sanctuary in near intact condition in Netherlands

23 June 2022

23 June 2022

Archaeologists have unearthed a relatively intact 1st-century Roman sanctuary in the town of Herwen-Hemeling in the province of Gelderland in...

Megalithic structure found in Kazakhstan was probably a place of worship for miners in the Bronze Age

2 September 2024

2 September 2024

Archaeologists investigating a megalithic monument in the Burabay district of the Akmola region of Kazakhstan have revealed that the monument...

2,700-Year-Old Rare Bronze Knives from the Early Saka Period Unearthed in Kazakhstan

17 July 2025

17 July 2025

In a remarkable archaeological breakthrough, researchers and students from Margulan University have unearthed two rare bronze knives dating back over...