February 17, 2011
The piece of field artillery that sits at the corner of the Courthouse on 8th and Commercial was gone for awhile and now it's back with new paint.
The photo above was taken on July 30, 2001, and shows the old paint on the gun. Not knowing anything about military artillery, I used to call it a Civil War cannon. That impression was fostered by the plaque on the bench (last photo) which says that this memorial is dedicated to those who fought in the Civil War. I posted the photos from 2001 on Panoramio and a guy named "armynurd" corrected me, so I looked it up: Civil War Cannon vs. 77mm field gun. Clearly it's more like the latter. The link shows a German-made gun, and "nurd" said it was "a French made 75mm field gun from both world wars."
Here's the 77mm barrel with a new plug in it.
Photo: 2001
The dedication. You can enlarge the photo by clicking on it.
6 comments:
It's of Japanese origin and it should be pointed at the courthouse, not away from it.
I don't know or care about the origin but it's strange to see such a bright one!
It was repainted after some months away while Knappa High School students disassembled and rebuilt the wheels.
My kids used to play on it, and called it "my friend, the cannon".
I agree with Ciel... it seems incongruous to have such a newly painted old gun. Interesting post, Sheryl.
Looks a little strange so close to the bench. I'm glad it has been restored though!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbk_20d/5618288385/
Post a Comment