Girard's Civil War cannons are coming under 21st century fire, from drivers
GIRARD — Civil War cannons that have stood sentinel in Girard for more than a century are temporarily absent from their posts.
A Confederate cannon displayed on the west end of the town's Main Street median was hit by a truck and knocked into the road on Wednesday.
Its Union counterpart on the east side was struck and damaged in December and has not yet been remounted.
Wednesday's hit was the third time in four years that a vehicle has taken out one of the big guns.
"No one can remember them being hit before 2018, or at least in the last 30 years," Girard Borough Councilwoman Jeanne Miller said.
The Union Army cannon in the median was struck during a high-speed police chase in June 2018. It was replaced but was struck again in December by a driver who told police he had been drinking and was texting at the time of the crash.
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On Wednesday, the Confederate cannon was hit by a tractor-trailer heading westbound on Main Street, which is Route 20 in the borough. The truck apparently hit the cannon as its driver attempted to turn around, Girard Borough Manager Rob Stubenbort said.
The cannon was knocked from its base and into the road. The granite base was broken. Both were taken to Ericson Memorial Studios in Millcreek Township for evaluation and repair.
Ericson had sandblasted and painted the cannons and replaced their crumbling stone bases with custom-made, engraved granite bases in 2017. The company replaced the Union cannon's granite base after the 2018 crash and has been at work since December to replace it again.
The cannons will return to resume a 21st-century mission, most likely before the town's Dan Rice Days festival in August, said Girard Mayor Peter Burton. Burton is president of Ericson Memorial Studios and Burton Quinn Scott Cremation and Funeral Services.
"The Dan Rice monument is in the center of the median, and the cannons may protect it from being hit," Burton said.
The 19th-century showman based his circus in Girard and paid for the town's monument to Civil War dead. The monument is in the Main Street median where the cannons typically stand sentinel.
Drivers' insurance has footed the bill for damage to the monuments. Cost to repair the damage done in December will total about $3,600, Stubenbort said.
History of Girard's cannons
The Union and Confederate cannons have been displayed in the median for at least a century, said Miller, who researched their history.
"There's a picture of them when the trolley tracks were still on Main Street," Miller said.
Trolley service through Girard was operated by the Conneaut and Erie Traction Co. and later the Cleveland and Erie Railway until 1922, according to Kenneth Springirth's "Images of Rail: Greater Erie Trolleys" history.
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"We don't know where the cannons came from, or when, or who donated them. We think Dan Rice may have had something to do with getting them," Miller said.
Rice's monument to Civil War dead was dedicated in November 1865. The dedication was covered by Harper's Weekly, which made no mention of the cannons and did not include them in illustrations. Based on that and on the trolley-era photograph, the cannons must have been placed after November 1865 and before 1922.
The Union cannon was made at the Scott Foundry operated by Seyfert, McManus & Co. in Reading, according to 2018 research on its manufacturer's mark by David Platz of Ericson Memorial Studios. The Confederate cannon, by its markings, was made at the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia.
Protection from future damage
The borough will consider ideas to protect the cannons from further damage once they return, officals said.
"Everyone is giving us ideas on how we might protect them, and we're listening to what they have to say," Miller said. "But I'm not sure what we could really do."
"It's been suggested that we put some kind of barrier in front of them," Burton said. "But the first time one of the cannons was hit, it was hit from behind. If you put a barrier all the way around them, they're not going to look as historic as they look on their own," Burton said.
And stronger barriers could injure drivers who hit them, Burton said. So far, none of the drivers who hit the cannons were hurt.
"Right now we're hoping that these incidents have been flukes, or that the third time, at least, is the charm," Burton said.
WJET-TV first reported the latest crash into a town cannon.
Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @ETNmyers.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Girard Civil War cannon has been taken out by a driver, again
