The Todd County World War I Monument
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To Honor the Soldier Dead The Todd County World War I Monument Edward Pluth those sentiments with the people of lives. A century later, historian Lisa M. Todd County. For Lee, then, the monu- Budreau acknowledged the efforts of he armistice that ended ment would serve an important public Lee and others like him in the after- T World War I was just one week purpose by helping to shape the pub- math of World War I: “On a personal old when William Edwin Lee of lic’s memory of the war, reminding level the sacrifice of life needed to be Long Prairie, Minnesota, a respected county residents of the cause for fully justified and then mourned and banker and county and state political which the 64 men had sacrificed their remembered in an honorable way.”2 figure, submitted a proposal to the Todd County Board of Commission- ers. Lee was requesting approval to erect, at his own expense, “an endur- ing monument” on the courthouse grounds to be “presented to the people as a lasting tablet” inscribed with the names of the 64 Todd County men who “gave their lives in the great war for the cause of humanity.” The article in the Long Prairie Leader about Lee’s proposal concluded that the memorial “will be a worthy one . and a reminder to generations for all time” of those who sacrificed their lives so the “world might be safe for governments that stand for liberty and freedom.”1 William Lee’s proposal to the Todd County board represented an early effort to memorialize the World War I dead. Lee, who had a strong sense of history and a deep affection for his community, clearly wanted to build a public memorial that would have a dual purpose: to honor the county’s war dead and to remember why they had died. He also wished to share The monument’s south side. 118 MINNESOTA HISTORY of what the monuments actually convey and whether they should be destroyed or relocated to museums or other more appropriate sites. The stark, conceptual design of the Viet- nam Veterans Memorial on the Mall in Washington, DC, generated much contention when it was dedicated in the early 1980s. (A figurative statue was added to the site to appease critics.) The Todd County memorial illustrates a less contentious mani- festation of this dynamic: in the two short years between when the Todd County memorial was conceived (1918) and dedicated (1920), the polit- ical context of the meaning of World War I had already shifted.3 In the Midwest, interest in estab- lishing permanent memorials to honor soldiers and sailors who died in World War I began some months before the November 11, 1918, armi- stice, going back at least to March 1918 when the towns of Virginia, Minnesota, and Atlantic, Iowa, were listed in a stone trade magazine among communities planning to erect soldiers’ monuments. A marble monument in Minot, North Dakota, dedicated on May 30, 1918, to local soldiers who had died in the war, is considered the first actualized memorial. Activity intensified from early November through December 1918, as individuals and communities in Minnesota and across the nation proposed and discussed plans to The Todd County monument is most likely the first erected by a Minnesota county to honor erect memorials to their war dead. World War I casualties. Local women’s clubs and veterans, patriotic, civic, and ethnic organiza- Recent scholarship on memorials local and national debate, as witness tions were becoming “increasingly emphasizes that “memorials exist the controversy over Confederate involved in the business of memory” at the intersection of memory and monuments that emerged in 2017. and initiated what historian Jennifer history and bond us to our past,” Many were erected decades after the Wingate concludes was “a grassroots and “all memorials remain artifacts Civil War ended with the intention to affair” to memorialize local heroes. of their time and place.” They are commemorate the “Lost Cause” and By 1919, a nationwide movement had therefore subject to politicization and southern “redemption” from Recon- emerged. Over the next two decades, can become the focus of contentious struction. Questions have been raised according to historian Steven Trout, FALL 2018 119 the new memorials. This apprehen- In its 1919 session, the Minnesota sion fostered a serious discussion Legislature approved issuing county about the form and character of such bonds up to $50,000 to facilitate memorials and the desire that they building local memorials. The fund- express “feelings of honor, sacrifice ing could be used to buy property and and patriotism” and have “artistic to construct “thereon a monument merit.” Such monuments, according or memorial in honor of the soldiers to John R. Van Derlip, president of and sailors” who fought in the armed the board of directors of the Minne- services “during the recent war.” Such apolis Society of Fine Arts, should bonds had to be approved by the be “refined, simple, idealistic and . county board and by a majority of free from over- elaboration and vul- the voting public. By November 1925, garity.” The Minnesota History Bulletin the St. Paul Pioneer Press estimated that of February 1919, noting the statewide Minnesotans had spent more than $2 discussion of “numerous plans . for million to “perpetuate the memory” William E. Lee the establishment of state and local of their World War I dead. That effort, memorials,” reflected the concern Minnesota historian Franklin Hol- more than 140 communities bought over appropriate war memorials. The brook noted in 1932, resulted in “the and placed in public sites a popular article praised the “commendable erection of numerous shafts, tablets, mass- produced statue titled Spirit desire” among a number of memorial buildings, parks, tree- lined drives of the American Doughboy, a figura- planners “to proceed with deliber- and other memorials, all dedicated tive sculpture of a US infantryman ation, knowing that the results of with appropriate ceremonies.” These designed by Ernest Moore Viquesney.4 their choice will be permanent and memorials could be found across the But building World War I war a constant source, either of pride or state from Virginia to Albert Lea, from memorials also generated deep of regret to their communities.” In Browns Valley to Lindstrom.6 concern, especially within the arts May 1919, the bulletin observed, “The William Lee was moved to spon- community, that the perceived general trend of opinion appears to sor a war memorial in Long Prairie “sculptural atrocities” of Civil War favor the community building type because of his deep connection to memorials would be replicated in of memorial” and listed four publica- the city and to Todd County. As a tions that included information on young boy he had moved with his Aerial view, Long Prairie, 1910. planning war memorials.5 family to Minnesota the year before Todd County Courthouse in 1915, five years before the monument was dedicated. it became a state, and he went on to Several years later he moved the store A MONUMENT play a significant role in the economic to Long Prairie and in 1881 founded HIGH ON A HILL development of Todd County. Long the Bank of Long Prairie.8 Prairie, the county seat, comprised Lee’s political career began with Lee’s proposed monument on the a variety of businesses, many linked his election as Todd County register courthouse grounds would be clearly to the county’s rural economy, which of deeds in 1877. He was elected to the visible to all courthouse visitors, in 1917 centered on small- scale Minnesota Legislature in 1885, 1887, as it would stand only a short dis- grain and livestock agriculture. The and 1893, serving as speaker of the tance from the main north entrance. county’s ethnic mix was primarily house during his last term in 1893. It also would be visible from the old- stock Yankee, German, and Scan- Governor Samuel R. Van Sant would nearby streets of Long Prairie since dinavian, along with small numbers later appoint him to the state Board of the courthouse sat upon a hill, the of Finnish and Eastern European Control. Lee was the Republican Party highest point in town. Lee’s intent for peoples. Native- born residents of candidate for governor in 1914 follow- the World War I monument in Long foreign or mixed parentage made up ing his defeat of then- governor A. O. Prairie is clear in his proposal letter more than 44 percent of the popula- Eberhart in the Republican primary, to the Todd County board, but it is not tion, according to the 1910 census.7 but Lee lost the election, after a bit- known whether he also originated The son of English immigrants, Lee ter campaign, to Democrat Winfield the idea. Obviously, he felt strongly was born in 1852 in Alton, Illinois. In Scott Hammond. During World War enough about it that he was willing to 1857 his parents moved first to Little I, Lee played a significant role in the bear the not inconsiderable expense Falls, then to Swan River, a nearby Todd County Liberty Loan campaigns. it would require. settle ment, and Long Prairie before Widely respected, Lee was described Before making his offer to the settling back in Little Falls in 1862. as “an admirable type of the self- made board, Lee, being a prudent business- After the Civil War, Lee worked with man and citizen,” a man of principle man, would have researched the costs his father, a millwright, and clerked at with “the utmost integrity [who] gave and other issues involved in the proj- a store in Long Prairie.