Monumental Bldg. Topic: CIVIL WAR, DOWNTOWN,
LANDMARKS
Written by Rich Wallace in June, 1996
FROM A MONUMENTAL PAST TO A FUTURE WITH PROMISE...Pg 2 |
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| Sixty thousand tickets were printed with a
ticket price of the tidy sum of one dollar each. Despite their best efforts, only 38,145
tickets were sold. The Thompson family won the lottery and claimed Carey's Hall. The net profit from the venture was
just $9,154, and Shelby County's effort to honor its soldiers had not gotten off to a very
good start. Four years of inactivity then followed. Within three weeks after the Ohio General Assembly passed an act in May, 1871, that provided for the appointment of trustees and the raising of moneys to build monuments to honor the soldiers of the "War of the Rebellion," local attorney Willis P. Stowell presented a petition of the Shelby County Common Pleas Court, resulting in the appointment of the first trustees. The idea for the creation of a building, rather than a monument, to honor the soldiers was discussed generally in town, but the details were first raised in an anonymous Sidney Journal ‘Letter to the Editor’, printed in its June 17, 1870, edition. The author commented: "The only question then, it seems to me, should be, what kind of structure will best answer the purpose. While we desire to commemorate the dead and honor the living soldier, ought we not to consult common prudence as to the best method of effecting this object? The useful as well as the ornamental ought to be studied. A building would meet this condition better than a marble shaft." The author went on to suggest most of the basic ideas, including the concept of a cultural center, that were later incorporated in the structure. After much public debate, it was decided to purchase the lot that was the site of the Ackerly Tavern, and before that, the old Farmer's Hotel. |
The north side of the stage on the third floor, as it appeared in 1998. [ Back
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