After two years of work, the city’s ad-hoc Civil War Memorial Committee has received approval from the Parks and Recreation Commission to put a monument on the Huntington Green.
Now, the committee needs the final OK from the Board of Aldermen before it erects a 7‑foot-tall bronze statute of a Civil War soldier.
That’s the plan, according to committee meeting minutes and a presentation given to the Parks and Recreation Committee last week.
The monument would honor Shelton residents who fought, and in many cases died, during the Civil War.
There were 96 Shelton residents who fought in the Civil War, according to James Connery, the president of Shelton Civil War Monument Inc., a charitable organization created last August.
At the time, the group who fought represented one third of the available men in this community, Connery said.
The Huntington Green was the center of the community 150 years ago, when Shelton was known as Huntington.
Connery told the Parks and Recreation Commission “the timing is right” for a commemoration of the sacrifices Shelton residents made during the war.
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The Shelton Civil War Monument organization recently sent out 1,200 surveys to Shelton residents asking if and where they supported the creation of a memorial.
Thirteen percent of recipients responded — and 88 percent said they support the idea.
Most — 83 percent — were in favor of locating the statue on the green, and 47 percent in favor of placing it on the south end.
The organization favored that idea and recommended to the Parks and Recreation Commission that the monument be located at the south end of the green across from the cemetery.
Connery pointed out that his organization is asking for no money from city coffers. So far, the organization has raised $4,000 for the project without advertising their cause.
Commission members asked questions about the size, location, and visibility of the monument, as well as the potential for vandalism.
The proposed site is all grass, so no trees would have to be removed to make room for the monument.
He added that the site would include in-ground lighting to deter vandalism.
Organization members hope to dedicate the memorial in 2013, which would be 150 years from the peak of the Civil War, as well as the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg and the Gettysburg Address.
A motion to support the location of the proposed Civil War monument on the south side of the Huntington Green passed unanimously. The next step is for the commission to send its recommendation to the Board of Aldermen.
