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Greencastle-born Soldiers & Sailors Monument now a national landmark
A monument born in Greencastle and a Parke County covered bridge have earned spots on the list of National Historic Landmarks.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel has announced that two Indiana landmarks -- the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Indianapolis (the idea for which was conceived in Greencastle) and the West Union Covered Bridge in Parke County -- have been added to the list.
The Soldiers and Sailors Monument has been included as an expansion of the Indiana World War Memorials Historic District, which includes the already designated World War Memorial Plaza to the north. The new nomination recognizes world-class civic designs that have shaped the image of Indianapolis, National Park Service (NPS) said.
The history of grand memorials in Indianapolis began with the planning of the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument in 1887, the NPS notes. In that year, the newly formed Board of Monument Commissioners conducted an international competition, selecting a design by Bruno Schmitz, one of the best-known monument designers in Germany.
One of the little-known facts behind that is that the idea for such a monument was born in Greencastle.
“When I tell people that the Soldiers and Sailors Monument was -- for lack of a better word -- conceived in Greencastle,” former Mayor Mike Harmless once said, “they look as me like I’m crazy, and say, ‘It was not.’”
Well, it was too.
In fact, it was the editor of the old Greencastle Banner who is credited with rallying the forces to create a monument to Hoosiers who fell in defense of the Union.
It was in 1875 that George J. Langsdale, editor of a predecessor to the Banner-Graphic, attended a reunion of Civil War veterans and enthusiastically presented his ideas for a monument.
“The idea certainly was conceived before that,” a spokesman for the Col. Eli Lilly Civil War Museum Committee told the Banner Graphic for an earlier story. “But it wouldn’t have happened without the guys from Greencastle.”
Those guys were members of “The Banner Alley Sextet” a group of six Civil War veterans who met regularly in Langsdale’s Greencastle print shop to discuss the affairs of the day.
Langsdale headed the Monument Commission, appointed by Gov. Oliver P. Morton after the Indiana Legislature appropriated $200,000 in 1887.
“George Langsdale, in my humble opinion,” the spokesman added, “if it weren’t for him, there wouldn’t be a Soldiers and Sailors Monument.”
The 284.5-foot monument -- only 15 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty -- is crafted of gray limestone from the Romana quarries of Owen County. It’s capped by a 38-foot-tall statue called “The Victory” that sits atop an observation tower accessible by elevator or stairs.
Beneath the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument is the Col. Eli Lilly Civil War Museum, which provides an interactive tour of the state’s involvement in the Civil War.
The Greencastle connection is also displayed prominently inside the Civil War Museum. As visitors enter and descend the main ramp, they turn into an area titled “And the Call Went Out for Troops.” It is there that a large “Welcome to Greencastle” road sign beckons visitors to enter Civil War-era Indiana.
The National Historic Landmark nomination cites the exceptional nature of the Indiana monument. It is the largest of more than 200 Civil War memorials in the U.S. and the only one that combines large-scale sculpture in bronze and stone.
The monument, dedicated in 1902, also set the trend for civic architecture in Indianapolis, which led to the construction of the Indiana World War Memorial and its plaza in the 1920s. Together, the monuments and sculpture of the Indiana World War Memorials Historic District form a world-class civic design.
Meanwhile, Parke County’s West Union Bridge was cited in a recent Covered Bridges National Historic Landmark Context Study for its exceptional integrity of workmanship and materials. The study, generated by the National Park Service, winnowed America’s hundreds of timber truss covered bridges down to the 20 best examples, and West Union made the cut.
The Parke County Commissioners hired master craftsman J.J. Daniels to build the West Union span in 1876. Daniels was known for his Burr truss bridges, a structural design that combines the old triangular king post truss with arched beams for additional bracing. Like most timber bridge builders in the U.S., Daniels specified wooden siding along the flanks of the bridge to protect the costly timber frame from the elements. The bridge spans 346 feet over Sugar Creek.
Administered by the National Park Service (NPS), the National Historic Landmark program recognizes “the best of the best” properties that provide insight to our national heritage. It is different from the National Register of Historic Places designation.
DNR’s Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology has two important roles in the National Historic Landmark program: Pointing out potential candidates to NPS and helping review nominations.