Long before the Big Duck was hatched, there was a giant elephant stomping around the New Jersey shore. Lucy the Elephant is the real grandmother of mimetic buildings.

The brainchild of James Lafferty, she was built in 1881 to lure people to the Atlantic coast to purchase land, and it worked. After climbing up to the howdah on top, visitors could look out at the lots of land for sale.

A few years later, she was sold and operated as a tourist attraction for the next 80 years. In the 1960s, she began to show her age and was nearly torn down. Luckily, local citizens restored her to her original condition, and moved her to Margate, New Jersey.

Tours still operate daily, and she’s now a National Historic Landmark, so she won’t be running off to join the circus anytime soon.