Sculptor August Leimbach was born on February 12, 1882, in the village of Kaltennor heim in Ellectfeld Rheinland. (Some sources list his date of birth as December 2, 1882.) In Germany, he studied drawing. It was during a visit to to his brother in St. Louis in 1910 that Leimbach elected to stay in this country. There he began his career as an architectural sculptor.
After working throughout the United States, Leimbach returned to St. Louis. There, a stone manufacturing company recommeded that Leimbach submit a design for the DAR's Madonna of the Trail. In less than three days, he had a design which was submitted to project coordinator Arlene B. Nichols Moss.
Following the acceptance of his design, Leimbach soon began casting the twelve ten foot tall statues using an amalgam of crushed granite, stone, marble, cement and lead ore.
Leimbach died on December 18, 1965, and is buried in Germany.
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