World War I Monument Restoration
Location: 300 Main Street, Falmouth MA
Applicant: Falmouth Monument Restoration Committee
Allocation: $33,000
Year/Article: April 2008, A37
The 1924 Falmouth Town Meeting appointed a committee to provide a memorial for the Falmouth men who served in the 1898 Spanish-American War and in World War I. On Memorial Day 1925, the American Legion dedicated the memorial of Italian marble and bronze on the grounds of the Falmouth Public Library on Main Street. The monument has continued annually to be the gathering place for Falmouth residents to honor veterans on Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Flag Day as well for the send off of troops and other events in honor of our military service people.
By 2008 the monument was showing significant damage from frost, acid rain, settling, and vandalism. The chemical action of acid rain on marble converts the hard substance into a soft limestone that allows names to wash away. The Memorial Restoration Committee, under the nonprofit umbrella of Falmouth’s Together We Can Inc., applied to the CPFund for a grant of $36,100 for restoration and preservation of the monument. Town Meeting appropriated $33,000 for the project. Work was completed and the monument rededicated at a public unveiling in 2008.