Winchester Soldiers' Monument, (sculpture).

Winchester Soldiers' Monument, (sculpture).

Bissell, George Edwin, 1839-1920, sculptor.

Hill, Robert W., 1828-1909, architect.

Hurd, Stephen, contractor.

Coppola, Andrew. 1941-1992, sculptor.

Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company, founder.

Stone & Wooster, contractor.

Winchester Soldiers' Monument, (sculpture).

Soldiers' Monument, (sculpture).

Designed 1887. Dedicated Sept. 11, 1890. Bronze doors added 1905. Fountain added: 1977-1978.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: Highland Lake gray/green/pink granite.

Sculpture: approx. 8 ft. 3 in. x 3 ft. x 2 ft.; Base: approx. 44 x 20 x 20 ft.; Overall: approx. 63 ft. 10 in. (2,000 lbs.).

(On back of bronze base of sculpture, left side:) Geo. Bissell, Sculptor (On back of bronze base of sculpture, left side:) CAST BY HENRY-BONNARD BRONZE COMPANY/NEW YOIR USA (On front exterior wall:) SOLDIERS/MEMORIAL (Interior walls, second floor: five marble tablets with the names of almost 300 men from the town who served in the Union) signed Founder's mark appears.

A tall square Gothic Revival granite tower with a standing figure of a Civil War color bearer on its crenelated top. The color bearer wears a wide-brimmed hat and holds the flag in his proper right hand. A sword hangs from his belt on his proper left side. The tower's interior consists of three floors and contains five marble plaques inscribed with the names of approximately 300 men who died in the Civil War.

History -- United States -- Civil War

Figure male -- Full length

Occupation -- Military -- Soldier

Dress -- Uniform -- Military Uniform

Architecture -- Civic -- Tower

Outdoor Sculpture -- Connecticut -- Winsted

Administered by Town of Winchester/City of Winsted, Public Works Department, 338 Main Street, Winsted, Connecticut 06098

Located Soldiers' Monument Park, Crown Street, Winchester, Connecticut

The monument is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is dedicated to the town's men who fought in the Civil War. Initial impetus for the monument came from the local unit of the Grand Army of the Republic, in Winsted, Palmer Post #33. The tower cost $14,000. The stone was quarried from Highland Lake and was supplied by Stephen Hurd. The firm of Stone & Wooster was the masonry contractor, and E. B. Parsons did the carpentry work. The sculpture was created by George Edwin Bissell and cost $2,500. It was cast by the Henry Bonnard Bronze Company. Robert W. Hill was the architect.

A bronze door depicting scenes of the Civil War was installed in 1905, but was removed and given to the World War II scrap drive. In 1908, a new copper roof was built to replace the original, which had deteriorated. In 1977-1978, a fountain designed by Andrew Coppola was placed near the monument. Funds for the fountain were provided from an 1890 bequest for that purpose.

IAS files contain related pamphlet by David F. Ransom, "Winchester Soldiers' Monument," Winsted: Soldiers' Monument Restoration Committee, 1985. For related information see The Hartford Courant, Sept. 12, 1990, pg. 1:7, 2:2 and May 16, 1990; and Winsted Herald, Sept. 5, 1890, pg. 3. See also Frank H. De Mars and Elliott P. Bronson's "Winsted and the Town of Winchester," Winsted, 1972, pg. 70, 104.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Connecticut survey, 1994.

SOS Assessment Award, 2000.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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