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SOLDIERS and Sailors Monument looms over Cleveland Public Square. (C-T photo by Gus Chan)Save the monument? Scrap(py) It, many saySo far Alfred Pfleger hasn’t raised any money for his plan to put a see-through cover around the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.Judging by history, the fund drive might go over the top with one slight change:Make it a non-see-through cover.The Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Cleveland’s Public Square is a — um, er — well, it’s a conversation piece. Clevelanders seldom pay attention, but out-of-town visitors are awestruck.In 1925 Charles Curran, secretary of the National Academy of Design, declared:“It’s a monstrosity. The onlything you can do with it is cover ———it with ivy.”In 1935 a visitor from Boston sent $1 to the Cleveland Press toevery day ”IN 1930, a county commissioner suggested it be destroyed if it couldn’t be moved. In 1942 there was a movement to melt it down as scrap for the war effort.Howard Cain, an architect whose office overlooked the Square, crusaded for years to have it moved to Garfield Park.The Early Settlers Association once proposed moving it to Erie Cemetery.The object of their apoplexy has been controversial since it was proposed in 1879 at a meeting of the Camp Barnett Soldiers and Sailors Society. The idea of honoring Civil War veterans was popular, but Cleveland City Council objected to the location.After 15 years and a Surpeme Court ruling, county commissioners prevailed. A statue of Oliver Hazard Perry, which had stood on the southeast quadrant of the Square, was moved to Gordon Park. Today the quadrant remains the only part of the Square not under city jurisdiction.The monument itself consists of a low building topped by a 125-foot shaft with a statue of Liberty (posed by designer Levi Scofield’s wife). Surrounding it are life-sized figures in battle scenes. Older Clevelanders thought they were black, but a cleaning in 1945 revealed them to be bronze with exceptionally fine detail.THE MONUMENT has been in the news lately because the county must spend more than $500,000 on repairs. That’s almost twice the $280,000 original cost.That’s when Pfleger stepped in. He’s a Rocky River retiree whose musical career as “Banjo Al” was the subject of a C-T story last Sunday. He proposed a stainless steel and glass enclosure to protect visitors, along with an elevator to allow them for the first time to see the top of the monument.Intrigued, I called him to find out how his idea was going. He said downtown property owners had reacted poorly to his suggestion of a fund drive, deterred perhaps by County Architect Berj Shakarian’s estimate that the project would cost $5 million.Still, he argued, “There are things in this world that are priceless. They’re spending a lot of money on the Statue of Liberty in New York. That to my mind is the same as our Soldiers and Sailors Monument.”Pfleger waxed poetic. He called the monument “the crown jewel of downtown” for which his enclosure would be “a lovely jewelry case.”He listed its attractions. “It has history, for one thing. It’s a piece of art, for another. It's part of Cleveland.”I HAD to agree with the last statement. And Pfleger’s enthusiasm made me realize, sheepishly, that I'd never looked closely at the details he praised so lavishly.Maybe the problem with the monument is that it represents a style of art which has gone out of fashion (just as the Vietnam War memorial in Washington may be out of fashion in 100 years). Its ornate Victorian style is out of place among modern downtown buildings.Maybe Howard Cain had the right idea. In a park, with plenty of grass around, Clevelanders might discover the Soldiers and Sailors Monument really is a civic treasure. Since it needs work anyway, this would be an ideal time to move it.I wouldn’t move it in the way suggested by a writer 50 years ago, though. He suggested it be loaded on a barge, towed out on the lake, and sunk.start a campaign for its removal. As an alternative, hesuggested the editor use the dollar to buy himself a drink, “since you have to look at itFredMcGun
Newspaper Details
The Chronicle Telegram
Elyria, Ohio, US
Fri, Nov 18, 1983
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Cincinnati A.
OH, USA 24 Sep 2023
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