Get to Know the Frost Statue – and its 20 Twins

By James Oatis

Published February 3, 2026

Through its history, Plymouth State University has had some notable alumni. Joe Dudek, the Panther running back and Sports Illustrated’s pick to win the 1985 Heisman Trophy, recorded the best ever performance by a Division III player in Heisman voting, finishing ninth. Paul Reubens, who created and portrayed Pee-wee Herman, attended Plymouth State for a semester before transferring. But perhaps the most notable figure to cross paths with Plymouth State was former United States Poet Laureate, Robert Frost.

Frost taught at Plymouth State, then called Plymouth Normal School, for a year before he moved with his family to England. Despite his brief time here, PSU has numerous commemorations of the New England poet, including the Robert Frost House behind Mary Lyon and a Frost collection in the Spinelli Archives. But Frost’s Plymouth legacy lives on most visibly through the bronze statue of the poet outside of Rounds Hall, where he taught. Installed in October 2005, the statue has become a campus landmark that students see almost daily. What students don’t see is how the statue was created, and the interesting history behind it.

The history of the Frost statue itself began in 1995, when Colorado-based sculptor George Lundeen was assigned a task. He was commissioned by Dartmouth College alumni to mold a bronze statue of Frost, a Dartmouth alumnus. After accepting the assignment, Lundeen looked for a reference photo to capture Frost the best he could. He eventually came across a photo from the 1940s that depicted sculptor Walker Hancock designing a bust of Frost. Lundeen contacted Hancock and found out he still had all the original measurements taken of Frost’s head from the original sculpting session. 

After finishing the statue for Dartmouth College, Lundeen made 20 more replica statues of Frost, including the one that sits outside of Rounds Hall. Other locations where the Frost statue can be found include CU Boulder, West Texas A&M, and the original at Dartmouth College. Lundeen has also sculpted other famous Americans, such as Amelia Earhart, and continues to do work across the country from his studio in Fort Collins, CO.