Bridgeport honors the 100th anniversary of its founding (and the U.S. bicentennial) with a granite memorial on a pre-colonial era militia ground.
The Centennial Monument, near the intersection of North Avenue (Route 1) and Brooklawn Avenue, stands at the southeast corner of the Clinton Park Militia Grounds.
The memorial bears a large centennial emblem featuring the City of Bridgeport seal, and the date of the city’s founding in 1836. The top of the monument features an engraved band depicting a school, factory and housing from then-modern Bridgeport.
The monument was dedicated in October of 1936 by longtime mayor Jasper McLevy.
Forty years later, a dedication including an inscription reading “Thank God for America” was added to commemorate the U.S. bicentennial.
In the northwest corner of the militia grounds, a 1901 memorial gate stands at the entrance of Stratfield Cemetery. Two granite markers on the gates list American Revolution veterans buried within the cemetery.
Tags: Bridgeport
Stafford honors veterans of the nation’s 20th century wars with monuments in a small park on West Main Street.
The Wall of Honor in Stafford’s Olympic Park, dedicated in 2005, features three granite memorials bearing bronze plaques as well as a large World War II cannon.
The central memorial lists the names of six Stafford residents who lost their lives while serving in World War I, as well as the names of 14 residents lost in World War II, and three who died while serving in Korea.
A sign in front of the memorial lists a resident who died while serving in Iraq.
The central memorial is flanked by two larger granite monuments with bronze plaques listing residents who served in the nation’s wars during the 20th century.
Tags: Stafford
Stafford Springs honors business and political leader Charles Holt with a memorial fountain in a traffic near the intersection of Main Street (Route 190) and River Road (Route 32).
The granite fountain was dedicated in 1894 to honor Charles Holt, owner of the Phoenix Woolen Co. and president of the Stafford Savings Bank.
The fountain’s south side bears an inscription reading, “In Memory of Charles Holt,” and the north side lists the fountain’s dedication date.
Holt, a native of Willington, was superintendent of the Hydeville Manufacturing Co. mill and became its sole owner after it had become the Phoenix Woolen Co.
Holt, who died in 1892, also served in the Connecticut legislature in 1858.
The fountain was donated by Holt’s wife, Joanna, and his daughter Celia.
Stafford Springs honors its Civil War veterans with a large cannon in Stafford Springs Cemetery on Monson Road (Route 32).
The cannon, dedicated in 1897, bears an inscription on its south (left) face reading, “A tribute to the patriotism of the men who went to the defence of the country from Stafford in the War of the Rebellion. The present bequeaths to the future the remembrance of the heroic past.”
The west face has an inscription reading, “Veterans 1861-1865.”
The north face bears an inscription reading, “Erected by Winter Post No. 44, G.A.R., assisted by the Woman Relief Corps, and the Sons of Veterans in honor of their comrades. Dedicated May 30, 1897.”
The north face of the monument’s base also highlights the donation of the surrounding veterans plot by Orrin Converse, a local attorney and officer of the Stafford Springs Savings Bank.
The cannon, a 32-pounder Rodman Gun, was cast in 1850.
Tags: Stafford
UPDATE: The talk went well. We had a good audience and people said nice things afterwards. I enjoyed the event, and the opportunity to share some information about one of my interests. Thanks for having me.
On Monday, March 11, I’ll have the distinct honor of addressing the Civil War Round Table of South Central Connecticut with a talk titled “Design Trends in Connecticut’s Civil War Monuments.”
The talk will review how the appearance of the state’s Civil War monuments evolved after the war’s end, some of the reasons the Civil War was the first U.S. conflict to receive public memorialization, and the contributions of the state’s leading monument designers and dealers.
We’ll also have copies of our book, Civil War Monuments of Connecticut, in case you’ve worn your copy out, or need another copy as a gift.
The fun kicks off at 7:30 at the Miller Memorial Central Library, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden, CT.
Driving directions:
A friend in Gettysburg passed along this photo of the former Cyclorama building as demolition began on Friday. While the demolition is understandable – the building, which should not have been built 50-odd years ago on an historically significant part of the battlefield, leaked like a colander and had long outlived its usefulness – it’s still sad to see it coming down.
We have a lot of good family memories associated with the old Cyclo:
01. My first visit to Gettysburg in 1989
02. Jen moving to Gettysburg and, among other jobs in town, running the Cyclorama show.
03. Discovering how to sneak past the ticket counter (via the observation deck and straight into the upper lobby).
04. Jen meeting Ed.
05. Chris getting help for a bloody knee after tripping over a Hancock Avenue drainage ditch.
Good times.
Derby honors the location of two Native American forts with inscribed boulders.
The site of the “New Fort” is marked on the southwest side of Roosevelt Drive (Route 34,) near the section with Lakeview Terrace and across the street from the Osbornedale State Park garage.
An inscription on the boulder’s northeast face reads, “The new fort. Prior to 1654, the Paugasuck (Paugasset) Indians built their second fort near this spot.”
The boulder’s southwest face bears an inscription reading, “Erected by Sarah Riggs Humprey chapter, D.A.R, 1916.”
A boulder marking the site of the natives’ first fort stands in a small traffic island near the intersection of Seymour Avenue and Division Street. The boulder’s northwest face bears an inscription reading, “Great Neck. In this locality stood the old Indian fort prior to 1654.”
Derby was settled as a trading post in 1654, and was named for Derby, England, in 1675.
Tags: Derby
Hinsdale, Massachusetts, honors its war veterans with a memorial outside the town’s library.
The monument, near the intersection of South Street (Route 8) and Maple Street (Route 143), was dedicated in 1923 and features a Civil War cannon.
A dedication plaque on the northeast face of the monument’s base reads, “This memorial was erected by the Town of Hinsdale and dedicated May 30, 1923. The Civil War tablet and the cannon and balls used in the Civil War, are the gift of Francis E. Warren, soldier and statesman, United States Senator from Wyoming, a native of Hinsdale, award [the] Medal of Honor as follows; ‘Volunteered in response to a call and took part in the movement that was made upon the enemy’s work under a heavy fire therefrom in advance of the general assault.’”
A plaque on the southwest face lists Hinsdale’s World War II veterans in four columns.
A plaque on the northwest face honors veterans of the American Revolution, Spanish-American War, World War I, and fighting along the Mexican border in 1916.
A plaque on the southeast face honors Hinsdale’s Civil War veterans.
The cannon was used in the siege and battle of Port Hudson, Louisiana. Warren, who also served as governor of Wyoming, was honored for his actions during that battle and donated the cannon to Hinsdale. A U.S. Air Force missile base in Wyoming is named after Warren.
The cannon’s carriage was replaced during a restoration of the monument in 2006.
Thanks to Mom and Dad for the images in this post.
Tags: Massachusetts
Becket, Massachusetts, honors its war veterans with a collection of monuments in an historic park.
Ballou Park, located at the intersection of Main Street (Route 8) and Prentice Place, features three large monuments honoring the town’s war veterans as well as a number of historic markers.
An undated monument honoring Becket’s World War I veterans bears the names of 35 residents.
A similar monument lists about 78 Becket residents who served in World War II, and denotes three residents who died during their WWII service.
Becket’s three World War II heroes are further honored with replica headstones located between the two World War memorials.
Another monument honors Becket’s Korea and Vietnam war veterans. The Korea section lists 26 names. The Vietnam section lists 41 names, and highlights one veteran who died during his Vietnam service.
The park, part of the North Becket Historic District, was the former site of the Ballou family homestead and grist mill. The home and mill were destroyed by a flood in 1927, and the site was deeded to the town in 1935 for use as a park.
Historic markers on the site describe nearby buildings, and commemorate the arrival of local railroad service in 1842.
A stone cairn in western Massachusetts honors the construction of a local road that bypassed a dangerous hill.
The Monument to the Automobile Age in Becket, Mass., was dedicated in 1910 to mark the opening of a bypass road that helped early motorists avoid the dangerous Jacob’s Ladder hill. Stones bearing the names of towns from throughout the northeast and eastern New York were added to the cairn, which stands today near the intersection of Route 20 and Johnson Road.
A 2010 stone on the upper left side of the cairn highlights the 100th anniversary of the opening of the bypass, and a wayside marker to the right of the cairn provides a brief history.
In the 1930s, the loose cairn was moved across the road. The cairn was shifted again in 1946, and its stones were cemented in place.
Historic images on the wayside marker indicate several stones were placed in new positions. For instance, the green plaque with three names on the left side was originally in the center of the cairn, and the eagle plaque was shifted from the middle to the lower right.
The cairn has apparently been a popular graffiti target, and a number of loose stones at the site bear the names and hometowns of recent visitors.
A cement deer stands a short distance to the west of the cairn, near the corner of Johnson Road. Because, hey, why not? If you’re going to have a large cairn on your road, you may as well add a cement deer.
Tags: Massachusetts