Location: 22 South Street, Foxborough
Coordinates: 42°03’49.6″N 71°14’59.4″W
Architect/Sculptor/Builder: John Stevens, architect; Samuel Freeman Pratt, carver of original statue; Charles Pizzano, carver of current statue
Foxborough’s Memorial Hall, located adjacent to the Town Common. The building was constructed in 1868 and dedicated on June 17, 1870. It served as the meeting place for the Grand Army of the Republic E.P. Carpenter Post 91 as well as the Town Library. Plaques inside the hall list the names of those from Foxborough who served in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the 23 soldiers of that town who died in the Civil War. The original 9-foot wooden statue of a soldier at parade rest, surmounting the hall, was carved by Civil War veteran and a Boston sculptor, Samuel Freeman Pratt. He purportedly modeled the statue after photographs of himself in uniform. In 1961 the statue was removed due to severe deterioration and replaced in 1962 with a new and similar wooden statue by Charles Pizzano of Medford. The replacement has had several rounds of repairs over the years. It was removed in 2014 for its most recent restoration, funded in part by the Massachusetts Civil War 150th Commission, and replaced in 2015. At that time, the repaired wooden statue was finished off with a “liquid copper” coating. The building presently serves as a local history museum and headquarters of the Foxborough Historical Society and Historical Commission.[1]
[1] “Foxborough Civil War Statue Shows its Age,” The Sun Chronicle, March 14, 2014
This is the only wooden civil war soldiers monument of all in the United States.
It is one of the first soldier monuments and the soldier is at Parade rest. (1868 – This
monument includes the building and the soldier was part of the design.)
Dearfield, MA may have the first CW Soldiers monument Ded. Sept 4, 1867. – Limestone.
I have been collecting photos of Civil War Statue Monuments since 1968 with aprox.
500 t0 date from ME to NE to TX to FL.
I was a long time resident of Foxboro and am a member of the Historical Society.
I would like to meet with someone involved with your project.
Mr. Leonard, Thank you for commenting and for sharing this interesting information. Very intrigued to hear that you’ve been photographing monuments since the sixties. The Foxborough monument is definitely the only wooden soldier statue cataloged in the course of this study. I’m not sure about the United States. As far as soldier statues in Massachusetts, I think only Roxbury in Forest Hills Cemetery beats it. The first general Civil War monument (an obelisk) in Massachusetts is in Somerville and at least 20 others followed in 1866 and 1867. I’d be happy to talk to you. Will send you an e-mail.
Best,
Patrick