·E65

More Monuments: Building 1,000 New American Monuments and a 500-Foot George Washington with Mo Mahmood

July 14

33 mins

Episode Description

Our Host Matt Horine interviews Mohud (“Mo”) Mahmood, founder of the nonprofit More Monuments, whose mission is to build 1,000 new monuments across America honoring American history, industry, and ingenuity. Mo explains his goal of creating a new “world wonder” in the U.S. and describes the group’s first completed project, a 54-foot Spindletop oil gusher replica in the Austin/Lockhart area at Proto Town, including its materials, fabrication steps, plaques, and crowdfunding from 125 supporters. He discusses the skills needed for large-scale monuments, the shortage of top sculptors in America, and the importance of welders and metal fabrication. Mo also shares progress on a 10-foot George Washington statue made in France and plans to scale it to a 500-foot stainless-steel monument using U.S.-made robot-formed metal panels, plus the organization’s funding model (product sales, donations, grants) and where to support the project online.

Timestamps

00:00 What Are We Building

01:50 Why World Wonders Matter

03:37 Spindletop Monument Origins

06:32 How It Was Fabricated

10:35 Skills for Monument Scale

14:38 George Washington Arrival

16:17 Colossus Plan and Robotics

20:13 Why Monuments Inspire

23:04 Funding the Mission

25:43 Reindustrialization and Beauty

28:13 Worlds Fair Revival