Soldiers and Sailors Monument (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) - History

History

The idea for a memorial to Lancasterian Union soldiers killed during the American Civil War was conceived soon after the end of hostilities in 1865. The funding for the memorial was championed by a women's civic organization called the Patriot Daughters of Lancaster and its leader, Rosina Hubley. The Patriot Daughters of Lancaster held a ladies fundraising fair sale in December 1867 at the nearby Fulton Hall, now called the Fulton Opera House, to help finance the construction of the proposed monument. The event raised approximately US$3,500 the ultimate goal of $20,000. The remaining funds for the monument's construction were raised through either military taxes and funds released by the Lancaster County Treasury or through private donations. The total cost of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument is believed to be $26,000 at the time.

Centre Square, as the present-day Penn Square was called at the time, was chosen as the site of the new Soldiers and Sailors Monument. The monument was formally commissioned on November 4, 1872. It was formally unveiled and dedicated on July 4, 1874, and was originally surrounded by stockade fencing and dirt streets at the time. President Ulysses S. Grant sent his regrets for being unable to attend the ceremony. The large crowd which watched the dedication included Civil War veterans and a group of girls from the Mount Joy Soldiers Orphan Home. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument was officially dedicated at 1:00 pm while the girls from the orphanage sang My Father's Grave. The Genius of Liberty on top of the monument was drapped in an American flag.

Rosina Hubley, who had led the efforts to construct the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, remarked on July 4, 1874, that she believed it would be a "perpetual reminder to all people of the country as they gather week-to-week to barter and chaffer in the market place, that there is something higher and better than self or produce, bargains or bank notes."

An iron fence and granite wall enclosure were added to the monument in 1877, replacing the original picket fence. The monument was sandblasted and cleaned in both 1905 and 1924. A plaque containing the Gettysburg Address and a picture of Abraham Lincoln were added on June 8, 1931. New lights were placed on the monument in 1956, 1972 and again in the early 2000s.

A proposal was floated during the 1950s to relocate the monument to an alternative site in a city park in order to ease traffic congestion in downtown Lancaster. However, the relocation idea was abandoned and the memorial remained at its original location.

Traffic passed around all four sides of the monument until the 1970s. A new traffic pattern was devised for Penn Square and the monument in 1972. A brick plaza was constructed in tandem with the expansion of the nearby Fulton Bank building, closing off traffic on the monument's northeast corner and opening it to pedestrians. The size of the monument's base was shrunk from its original 35 feet (11 m) down to 17 feet (5.2 m) as part of the reroute of traffic. The iron railing, added in 1877, was removed and new granite curbing was added to protect the monument from traffic collisions.

On November 12, 1978, a woman committed suicide by crashing her car into the monument, causing damage to the sailor statue, which represents the United States Navy. The sailor statue's base and legs were repaired using cement.

The new $170 million dollar, 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) Lancaster County Convention Center and 300 room Marriott Hotel opened directly across the street from the monument on April 21, 2009. The historic Lancaster Central Market, constructed in 1889, and the W. W. Griest Building stand just to the northwest.

• Navy

• Calvary

• Infantry

• Artillery