Kendall to get its cannon back

More than 500 signatures graced a petition that was handed to Town of Kendall board members at an April 18 meeting. The petition was signed by those who wanted the return of Kendall's historic Civil War cannon. The cannon had graced the lawn of Greenwood Cemetery before it was recently sold to an out-of-state museum.

The board's decision to sell the cannon and replace it with a replica was to prevent the historic piece from being stolen. Residents, both veterans and non veterans, have been vocal on their desire to see the cannon returned to its rightful place in the cemetery.

"Obviously no one on the board anticipated the reaction we received when we removed the cannon," Supervisor John Becker said. "We've listened to the residents and they said they want it brought back so that's what we're doing."

The cannon was sold to a collector who paid the town $15,000 and gave back a replica worth $5,000 to replace the 1862 cast iron canon.

Town board officials passed a resolution to retrieve the cannon and will also be approaching state and federal officials for help with grant funding to pay for restocking and delivery charges. It's anticipated it will cost the town $27,000 to get the cannon back: $15,000 that was originally paid to the town; $5,000 for the replica and close to $7,000 for expenses.

Resident Alan Lofthouse was happy to see the cannon come back but said it should never have been removed from the cemetery in the first place.

"It was our ultimate goal to see it put back and we put a lot of time and effort into getting it back," he said.