Brown Monument, (sculpture).

Brown Monument, (sculpture).

Smith Granite Company, fabricator.

Brown Monument, (sculpture).

Preston City Civil War Monument, (sculpture).

Installed 1898. Dedicated Nov. 25, 1898.

Digital Reference:

Sphere: granite; Pedestal: granite.

Sphere: approx. Diam. 2 1/2 ft.; Pedestal: approx. 10 ft. 6 in. x 6 1/2 ft. x 6 1/2 ft.

(Bronze plaque on front face of pedestal, raised letters:) WORLD WAR I MEMORIAL, (list of 50 names), ERECTED 1921 (Above, incised letters:) IN GRATEFUL MEMORY/OF THOSE CITIZENS OF THE TOWN OF/PRESTON/WHO SERVED THEIR COUNTRY IN ARMS/IN THE WAR FOR/THE PRESERVATION OF THE UNION (At base of sphere, raised letters:) 1861 (seal of United States) 1865 (On southwest side:) FROM THIS TOWN/OBEDIENT TO THE CALL OF/PATRIOTISM AND HUMANITY/WENT FORTH/ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MEN/AS SOLDIERS IN THE CIVIL WAR (On southeast side:) THIS MONUMENT/MARKS THE DWELLING PLACE OF/GENERAL SAMUEL MOTT/EMINENT CITIZEN/UPRIGHT MAGISTRATE/SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION/FRIEND OF WASHINGTON (On northeast side:) ERECTED/IN TOKEN OF FILIAL GRATITUDE AND/AFFECTION FOR THEIR EARLY HOME/AND TO COMMEMORATE/THE PATRIOTIC DEVOTION OF/ unsigned

A dark gray granite pedestal topped by a polished light gray granite sphere.

History -- United States -- Civil War

History -- United States -- World War I

Outdoor Sculpture -- Connecticut -- Preston

Town of Preston, Preston Historical Society, 296 SR 164 (RFD 3), Preston, Connecticut 06360

Formerly located Preston City Library, 296 SR 164 (RFD 3), Prestono, Connecticut 06360 1898-1990.

The monument commemorates the 150 men from the town who fought in the Civil War and 50 residents who fought in World War I. Funding for the monument came from Judge Lucius Brown. His brother, Charles H. Brown, donated the surrounding land and Mott's home, to the community for use a library (Preston City Free Public Library). The monument and the new library were dedicated Nov. 25, 1898. In 1990, when the library moved to a larger building, the property was taken over by the Preston Historical Society. IAS files contain related excerpt from "Preston in Review," Preston Historical Society, 1971: pg. 162-163; and a copy of the dedication program. For further reading, see: Norwich Courier, Nov. 29, 1898.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Connecticut survey, 1994.

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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Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9382

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