GAR Monument

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GAR Monument
Dedicated: Memorial Day 1910

    The GAR monument that stands before you was the product of many groups coming together in 1910. The Winfield B. Scott GAR Post of Tonawanda, The Winfield B. Scott GAR Post Women's Relief Corps, and the Ladies Auxiliary raised money, organized, and planned the erection and dedication of this twenty plus foot monument. The statue of a Union soldier at the top alone cost $450. The base would have cost about the same. It was made by the White Bronze Monument Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The groups raised just over two thousand dollar, which would be around seventy-thousand dollar's today. 
    The monument was designed to memorialize the names of over two-hundred members of the Winfield B. Scott GAR Post living and dead at the time. It also recognized the other groups who helped make the monument possible. 
    Miss Onelee Edmonds was supposed to dedicate the monument after a grand parade and memorial service. Hundreds of school children were supposed to gather and provide music for the event. Soldiers from different wars would stand at attention around the monument.... they were supposed to.... but as we know the weather doesn't always cooperate. 
    The day of the dedication it was pouring rain; Onalee was running late; plans changed. The parade, which was tradition, went on. The old soldiers marched, making their way to this spot. By 1910 there were only forty-one local civil war vets still living. Despite the rain the show had to go on. Daniel Burd unveiled the monument and the ceremony was moved to the armory away from the elements. 
    Many of the gravestones surrounding the monument are government issued. Time has taken its toll on many of the stones. There is an ongoing effort to repair and restore this monument. 






              

Sources: Historical Society of The Tonawandas, Newspapers.com, Ancestry.com, Familysearch.com
Fultonhistory.com

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