Soldiers and Sailors Monument

The Vienna Soldiers and Sailors Monument was erected at the northwest corner of the Township Green on August 31, 1889.

The monument was dedicated on September 4, 1889.

Creation and Cost

The monument was funded through a tax voted upon, carried, and paid by Vienna residents.

Vienna Presbyterian Church, the owner of Vienna Township Green, leased to the Township the land upon which the monument would stand. The handwritten document reads:

This indenture of Lease made at Vienna, Trumbull County, Ohio this 2nd day of April in the year 1888 by and between R. P. Hays, R. J. Stewart & George Pound, Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of Vienna and their Successors in said Church, party of the first-part, and A. I. Truesdell, H. L. Scovill & Geo. Chamberlain, Trustees of the Township of Vienna as the party of the Second Part witnesseth. That in consideration of one dollar the first-party hath leased and hereby doth lease unto the second party and their successors in office and for the use and benefit of the citizens of said Vienna Township to erect a Soldiers Monument upon the following described piece or plot of land to wit. A plot of land to be measured and staked of[f] in the Southeast corner of a tract of land lying at the center of said township and on the Northwest corner at said central point in said Township. Said plot is to be not more than fifty feet square and to be located not more than eight rods west of the west side of the North and South center road and not more than eight rods north of the North side of the East and West center road. To have and to hold the same for the terms of ninety-nine years or as lon as said plot may be used for the said purpose of a Soldiers Monument. [1]

Design

Vienna chose a simple design: an obelisk surmounted by an eagle. The majority of Ohio monuments built between 1863 and 1869 featured eagles, but only seven of the fifty-eight monuments created in the state between 1870 and 1889 included this patriotic symbol. The most popular design of Civil War monuments in the state was the figure of a soldier at parade rest. Vienna’s design echoes the verticality of the church spire located diagonally behind it.

John Koehler (born 1829, Baden, Germany), a marble cutter and dealer living in Howland, designed the monument, which was constructed of Quincy granite by M. C. Kennedy, who owned a granite and marble works in Cortland. The cost of the monument was one thousand dollars.

Dedication Ceremony

On September 6, 1889, the Warren Daily Chronicle noted the monument’s dedication:

The people of Vienna finished a noble and patriotic work on Thursday last. It was the day set apart for the dedication of a beautiful granite monument erected by the people of that town to their soldier heroes who now rest on the eternal camping ground. At 1:30 p.m. nearly one thousand people had gathered about the shaft, located on the Public Square, the boys of the Grand Army of the Republic forming a hollow square, and Esquire Griffiths, in behalf of the people formally presented the monument. The presentation speech was a model one. On behalf of Truesdale [Truesdell] Post G.A.R. comrade Garrand [Garrard] accepted it in a well named speech, and with the singing of the patriotic airs by the union choir, an excellent organization, a devout prayer by Rev. Moses Scott, and music by the Brookfield brass band, the ceremonies about the monument were at the end.

Inscribed on the south, east, and north sides of the monument are names of men who died or served during the Civil War. Inscribed on the west side of the monument are names of veterans that served in World War II and Vietnam.

Names inscribed on the south side of the monument:
William H. McClurg
Zachery Roger
Selden S. Truesdell
Robert A. Truesdell
Jonathan Tuttle
Amasa McCoy
Jacob W. Pound
Henry E. Pound
William Tuttle
Rodney Leet

Names inscribed on the east side of the monument:
Ashley Moore
Osman B. Tuttle
Merit Emerson
Warren Leet
Lemuel Moser
Erastus Bartholomew
Addison Perkins
Stephen Pruden
Abe Wartman

Name inscribed on the north side of the monument:
Robert J. Stewart

Names inscribed on the west side of the monument:
Veterans of World War II:
Raymond Beachler
Alwin Curry
Edwin Davis
Herbert Garman
Steve Peigowski
John Terlecky Jr.
Clifford Vestal
Albert Yamsek

Vietnam:
Donald E. Bartek

In May 2012, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument was professionally cleaned in preparation for the Township's annual Memorial Day observance. During the cleaning, it was discovered by Shirley Wajda, Vienna Historical Society historian, and Lauren Worona, local conservator, that the eagle atop the monument had multiple cracks at its base.

At the request of the Vienna Memorial Day Association and the Vienna Historical Society, the Vienna Township Trustees engaged professional conservator, Ta Mara Conde, to examine the eagle and devise the proper method of repair and conservation.

The eagle was removed by Conde and Worona from the monument in August of 2013. What Conde found and from residents’ memories, is that the eagle was broken about fifty years earlier and repaired by drilling and securing it with two large steel pins at an angle through the sculpture. The drilling and the pressure of the pins against the tail feathers made the stone break there. The tail feathers were not originally damaged during the first fall, but broke under the pressure of the eagle's weight because of the repairs. According to Conde, one of the pins was bent and the eagle would have likely fallen again.

The eagle was repaired in 2014 by Conde, with assistance by Worona, but both conservators determined that it was not stable enough to be placed back atop the monument. After much discussion, the Vienna Township Trustees decided that an exact replica of the eagle was to be made and placed back on top of the monument.

A replica eagle was created by Milano Monuments of Niles, Ohio. The cost of the replica, with installation, was $6,800.

The new eagle was placed on top of the monument in October of 2016.

With the new eagle in place, the monument was rededicated at the Memorial Day observance on May, 29, 2017. The original eagle was placed in the Vienna Township's Community Room at the Vienna Police Department.