New Britain herald., 1928-09-22
Erection of World War Memorial
 Achieved After Six Years Work


 tember ee, 1926 and once more fay orable action was taken by the coun- Gil members. The report follows: :
 "The letter of June 14, 1926, of the mayor, requesting the soldiers memorial committee to present a report to the common council has been received and the committee has again carefully considered the me- morial project.
 | "It is we'll at this point to recall to your attention that when your committee was originally formed it first considered the perpetuation of the present temporary memorial in Walnut Hill park but was confront ed by construction difficulties of such serious nature as to make them insurmountable except at a cost 90 prohibitive as to make the necessary appropriation beyond the city's means or it's legal power to finance.
 Proposals were secured in the form of models and drawings from five different artists. Without ex- ception all of those who competed. selected the same site at the north side of the wading pool on the top of Walnut Hill park as being for every reason the most appropriate for such a memorial. After careful consideration of all the proposals submitted your committee unani- mously chose the design submitted by H. Van Buren Magonigle.
 "Mr. Magonigle, the designer of the memorial, has been several times In New Britain to meet with mem bers of the committee and with the mayor and as a result of these con- ferences several changes have been made in the original plan. All In all, it is the belief of the committee that the, memorial as changed wilt be ennobled and more beautiful than before. The report of MT. Magon-, iele to the committee is submitted. herewith with it's accompanying il-, lustrations as the report of this com- mittee."
 The report was signed by the Soldiers Memorial committee, as follows: George H. Dyson. chair, man; Joseph C. Andrews. secretary: William F. Brooks, John F. Calla-. han. Albert F. Corbin, Arthur G. Kimball, Edward Johnson. George T. Kimball, Maxwell Porter, Charles r. Smith, and Dewey o. Selander.
 MagonigIe's Statements
 Architect Magonigle, in an. accom- panying report estimated the cost of the monument would be $l65. 900 and any amount remaining above construction costs would cover oth- CT incidental expenses including lay ing the corner stone. dedication, etc., and if there were any left it could be used as a fund for the mainte- nance and repair of the memorial. He recommended that this fund be established rather than leave the monument to the mercy of sporadic appropriations usually made when the condition of the work has be-. come disgraceful.
 He suggests further that a small wieldy building committee of five members be appointed to handle thej construction and business details i'm connection with the memorial.
 The committee included two' members Of the council and they then became members of the gen. eral committee. The committee con sisted of Arthur G. kimball. chair man: Judge 5. F. Gaffney. William F. Brooks, and the two council members, Donald l.. Bartlett and William E. Greene. This committee was given authority to proceed with the construction of the monument at the meeting of the common coun- cil on October 20.
 One of the greatest problems which the memorial committee had to face was to vote in favor of the shaft atop Walnut Hill park instead of reproducing perma- nently a memorial that would have the general lines of the arch at the entrance to the park. However, the reported general feeling among architects that this would be impra ctical. Other places considered were the flank of the hill facing West Main street, or site near the pres- ent refreshment stand and at the top of the hill. Every architect fa- vored the last named site.
 One of the chief objections to the of the arches was voiced by Mfr. Magonigle in the statement: ''This site in my opinion offers practically insu- perable obstacles to a successful treatment for a permanent memor- ial. The land slopes in two directions with the roadway and with the side hill--in such a manner that an heavy expense would be involved in preparing the location for the site"
 The Hayes Construction Co. of this city was given the contract to build the monument at cost of | S165,000. ]
 Corner Stone Laying On July 20, 1927 the corner stone was laid. In the hollow of | the stone was inserted strong | copper box containing Bible. New daily papers and a New | Y ork paper, United States coins, war relics, historical documents in- | cluding a book of the history of New Britain, material relating to