The Town of Sweden has been notified it will receive funding from The Rochester Area Community Foundation to continue the restoration of the Soldiers Memorial Tower on Owens Road in the Town of Sweden.
Noted architect Clarence Birdsall designed the tower in 1894 as a memorial to Sweden’s fallen Civil War Soldiers. While popular as a tourist attraction in its early years, the tower had fallen into a state of disrepair so severe that there arose concern that it would completely collapse.
In 2013, the Town of Sweden acquired the tower property and undertook a stabilization project. The town hired noted local mason Steve Monno who rebuilt a missing buttress; stabilized the foundation; leveled the jagged top of the tower (about 20% of the top had collapsed); and installed a copping stone cap to stop further water penetration and freeze/thaw damage into the tower.
The stones that had fallen from the tower were washed and put on pallets for storage at the town’s highway garage for future restoration. A faux wrought iron fence was installed around the tower to deter vandalism. The highway crew keeps a path from the fire station to the tower site so that visitors may appreciate the historic structure.
The newly announced funding from the Rochester Area Community Foundation will help the town pay for the repointing of all mortar joints. The repointing will help preserve the tower for many years to come and perhaps someday, the stones held in storage will be used to reconstruct the top of the tower.
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