Desert Christ Park was dedicated on Easter Sunday, 1951. The first scuplture (on the hill above the Evangelical church) is a three-ton, ten-foot high statue of Christ with his arms raised in blessing. For the following ten years, the sculptor, Mr. Antone Martin, a former aircraft worker, created the many pieces of statuary that now comprise the park. The larger-than-lifesize groups and individual figures express Antone Martin’s dedication to the concept of peace and good will on earth, and his hope that his works may bring mankind together in peace and love for one another and for Christ.
Martin died in 1961 after completing more than 50 figures, one of which is a massive concrete bas-relief of the Lord’s Supper, weighing approximately 125 tons, and measuring 20 feet tall and 30 feet wide. All of the statuary is made of steel-reinforced concrete, hand-finished with a white paint/plaster mixture. The individual figures weigh anywhere from three to sixteen tons each. Over the years, one of the favorites of visitors is the “Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto Me” statue, which consists of a seated Christ with a baby and a small girl.
At Martin’s death, Desert Christ Park was presented to the Yucca Valley Parks and Recreation District, which administered and maintained the park. In 1987, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit against the Park District to have the park removed from public taxpayer support. In 1993, the park was taken over by the non-profit Hi-Desert Nature Museum Association for continued upkeep and administration. In 1996, a non-profit foundation was formed for the administration of the park. The first president of the foundation board was Wolfgang Maschler, who served until his untimely death on January 15, 2003. Mr. Maschler worked conscientiously, with limited funds, in working toward bringing the park back from years of neglect, vandalism and damage from the 1992 earthquake, and to bring renewed interest in the partk and its message of Christ’s love and sacrifice for all mankind.
Antone Martin was born near Cincinatti, Ohio in 1887, and was orphaned at an early age, without knowing his parents. In early youth, he lived on a farm, and at the age of twelve, he ran away from his foster parents, and began an independent life of a variety of jobs and occupations. During his “adventures” he was taught to read and write, and began a totally exciting life in expanding his world through books and studies of various crafts, including expert chef, miner, traveler, wood carver, poet, singer, artist and scupltor. By World War II, Mr. Martin became a Senior Patternmaker and a Design Engineer for an aircraft corporation, Douglas Aircraft in Southern California, where he lived for many years in the city of Inglewood.
Thus, Antone Martin, a man of many occupations, wholly self-educated, never enjoyed a day in school and still became a highly literate personality. He was author and poet, talented public speaker on the scriptures--all through an insatiable thirst for knowledge.
Antone Martin was slight of physique, and was plagued throughout his life with ailments. In his final ten years, well past normal retirement age, he undertook the Herculean task of creating Desert Christ Park. He became exhausted and worn by his toils with the many hundreds of tons of concrete that he personally prepared and carried. His devotion to this final project, combined with his frailties, resulted in his illness and subsequent death on December 23, 1961, at the age of 74.
Frank Antone Martin had been married at the mining camp of Oatman, Arizona, in 1916. He was survived by his widow, Mrs. Alice Walsh-Martin, and two sons, Eugene and Frank. Antone Martin’s earthly remains were interred at Twentynine Palms, California.
