New Britain herald., 1924-04-22
EXPLAINS CHOICE
 OF PARK TOP SITE FOR WAR MEMORIAL
Committee Believes Entrance to Walnut Hill Impractical After
 Consulting With Authorities

PRESSURE OF EARTH DANGER TO BIG ARCH AND PILLARS Designer Magonigle Convinced Slope
 Of Land on Park Road Would In-
 terfcre Seriously With New Britain
 Achieving Ambition to Erect Mon-
 ument of Beauty, Dignity and Per-
 nianence.
 In a report prepared for the mayor and common council, the committee entrusted with making plans for the memorial to men who served in the World War explains why it recom- mends a ,ite at the highest point in Walnut Hill park. Originally the committee considered reproducing permanently the arch and pillars now at the entrance to the park, but after consulting with experts, learned that there were reasons why such site was considered impractical. IL IS the unanimous opinion of experts whose opinions have been sought, that the contour of the land at the entrance to the park is an obstacle of prime con- sideration and that 1t would be im- possible to locate A memorial there with any assurance Of avoiding con- tinuous and expensive repairs.
 Committee Report.
 The report of the committee fol- ows: ITO His Honor the Mayor and the
 Common Council of the City Of
 New Britain;
 Your committee on Soldiers Me- moral has the honor 10 report as Fol- ows;
 "The committee Of five originally appointed at their first meeting real i2ing the importance Of getting m closest touch with the desires oiethe service men themselves and the fam ,l.es Of the soldiers who had died Tn ihe service invited a member Of the American Legion, the World war Veterans, the Disabled American Vet erans Of the World War and the Vet srans of Foreign Wars 10 join in the deliberations of the memorial com mittee and they have since acted on ths, committee.
 Later on we asked that the mem- bership of the committee be further increased to include the members or the Park Board.
 Your committee now reporting comprises in addition to its original membership these men representing inc service men and also representing the park board.
 At the carly meetings Of your committee. your committee was unan- lmously in favor ot reproducing per manently a memorial that should have the general lines of the present temporary memorial, namely; an arch and individual monuments for each of tho dead soldiers So soon however as we invited proposals for such me. morial we found among all Of those who came here and inspected the site and desired to compete for the me- morial, the unanimous opinion that a memorial upon the present site was impractical; and after showing them about the city they all concurred in recommending that the. memorial be put upon the northern end of the top Of the hill in the park.
 "The objections 10 the site of the temporary memorial arch as set forth by Mir. Magonigle in his letter of July s1 represent practically what was said by all those whose opinions were asked upon the subject. Mir. Magonigle says. This site in my opinion offers practically insuperable obstacles to a successful treatment for a permanent memorial. The land slopes in two directions-with inc roadway and with the side hill in such a manner that an exceedingly heavy expense would be involved in preparing the location for the site. \ memorial at this point, especially fl if took the form of an arch owing 10 the width of the roadway. would have to be of such a height 10 be Of good proportion that an arch of the size required would demand enor- nous abutments and the cost would probably be more than New Britain would be prepared to spend.'
 Collections to Park Entrance Site.
 "In conversation Mir. Magonigle enlarged this opinion and stated that an arch placed in that position. however strongly made, would nev- ertheless be subject 10 the outward pressure of the weight of the hill which imperceptibiy but surely would so change the foundations of the arch that it would be bound to crack; and that this tendency of all large bodies of earth 10 slowly fatten themselves out would. on the smaller foundations of the individual n1onu- ments. very soon take it's effect and put them out Of line and that it would be impossible to maintain either inc arch or the monuments in that position for any considerable length Of time in hrst-cIass condition.
 The engineering department of The city of New Britain who were sIso consulted agreed fully with these views and your committee therefore had no other course than 10 seek for a memorial in some other form than that Of the temporary arch and monuments Your commit fee realized fully the sentiment which had grown about and was strongly connected with the individual char scter Of the temporary memorial: and in making ihe plans for per- mament memorial on another site which fl was compelled 10 do by reason Of the facts aforsstated. it rrrticulariy directed the attention of tho architect 10 such form of
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