Soldiers' Memorial Tower

Soldiers' Memorial Tower
Soldiers' Memorial Tower, February 2010
Location Owens Rd. N of Conrail RR tracks, Brockport, New York
Coordinates 43°12′28″N 77°55′7″W / 43.20778°N 77.91861°W / 43.20778; -77.91861Coordinates: 43°12′28″N 77°55′7″W / 43.20778°N 77.91861°W / 43.20778; -77.91861
Area less than one acre
Built 1894
Architect Birdsell, Clarence
Architectural style Late Gothic Revival
NRHP reference # 94000332[1]
Added to NRHP April 08, 1994

Soldiers' Memorial Tower is a historic war memorial located at Brockport in Monroe County, New York. It was built in 1894 and is a commemorative monument to memorialize the town of Sweden's Civil War dead and marked the location of a small plot of land set aside for the free interment of local veterans. At one point, the grounds held the remains of more than twenty individuals, though precise records were not kept; all but a few have since been moved to other locations.[2]

The round tower originally stood 52 feet (16 m) tall—though about a quarter of that height has been lost to erosion and damage over time—and is a Medina sandstone structure in the Late Gothic Revival style.[2][3]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994,[1] by which time it was already in significant disrepair.[2] The listing has been the only lasting result of the effort—begun around 1960—to restore the monument, though the event did not serve as the catalyst that supporters had hoped.[2] Fundraising to help restore, or at least stabilize, the structure continued to be extremely weak.[2] In December 2012, the trustees of the Brockport Rural Cemetery Association reached an agreement to transfer the monument and its 17 surrounding acres to the Town of Sweden, which intends to build a firehouse on the site.[2] The Town intends to invest funds to stabilize the structure and make it safer, but it does not have the funds for a full restoration.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Andreatta, David (December 21, 2012). "Forgotten monument land in Sweden may soon have a firehouse". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. Gannett Company. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  3. ↑ Kathleen LaFrank (June 1993). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Soldiers' Memorial Tower". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2009-10-20. See also: "Accompanying three photos".


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