Civil War cannons are being returned to their posts in Girard's Main Street median
GIRARD — Civil War cannons will be back in place in Girard in time for the town's Dan Rice Days festival this weekend.
Work began Monday to remount the cannons at opposite ends of the Main Street (Route 20) median in Girard Borough.
"They'll look as good as they did before. It will be great to have them back," Girard Borough Manager Rob Stubenbort said.
The big guns were knocked from their granite bases by vehicles in separate incidents in December and May. The stone bases were broken and have been replaced by Ericson Memorial Studios in Millcreek.
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The drivers' insurance paid the approximately $3,600 cost.
It was the third time in four years that a vehicle has hit one of the cannons. The borough is considering lighting the cannons, both to highlight the guns and to make them more visible to drivers at night.
"We're just in the talking stages, but it would be cool to have lights on all four sides of the median," Stubenbort said. "They can't be too bright; the median is in the middle of Route 20."
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History of Girard's cannons
The cannons have flanked the Dan Rice Monument in the median for more than a century, though it's not known when they were first placed there. Rice based his circus in Girard in the mid-19th century and erected the monument to Civil War dead in November 1865. There was no mention of the cannons in contemporary accounts of the dedication, nor were they shown in illustrations.
The guns were in place by 1905, when the Erie Daily Times described them in an account of Girard, "One of Erie's Most Handsome Suburban Villages." The Nov. 13, 1905 report also included information on the cannons' history:
"In the center of the street, which divides the park, stands the monument erected by Dan Rice, in memory of the soldiers and sailors of the Civil War. On each end of the mound on which the monument stands is a mounted cannon which was used in Mobile Bay and later surrendered to the Union forces with that fort."
The Confederate forts at Mobile Bay, Alabama, were captured by Union naval and land forces commanded by Admiral David Farragut in August 1864.
Cannon aid: Girard cannon was also hit in 2018
The cannon traditionally mounted at the east end of the Girard median is a Union gun made in Reading, Berks County, according to research on its manufacturer's mark by David Platz of Ericson Memorial Studios in 2018. The cannon presumably had been captured by the Confederates and mounted at Mobile Bay before Union forces reclaimed it.
The cannon being remounted at the median's west end is a Confederate gun made in Richmond, Virginia.
'They've protected the monument'
The Union cannon was struck by a driver fleeing police in a high-speed chase in June 2018. It was remounted but was struck again last December by a driver who told police he had been drinking and was texting at the time of the crash.
The Confederate cannon was hit by a tractor-trailer as its driver attempted a U-turn around the median in May.
Still, the guns have done their job, Stubenbort said.
"They've protected the monument," he said. "The cannons have broken away from their bases when they've been hit. And a car has never made it to the monument. The cannons have stopped them."
Drivers involved in the crashes were not injured.
Dan Rice Days celebrate Girard's circus heritage. Main festival events begin Thursday and continue through Saturday at Wells Park on Main Street.
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Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @ETNmyers.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Civil War cannons returned to duty to protect Girard monument
