One of the most prominent of the plaques in Rensselear is the one in Memorial or Flat Iron Park.
It reads:
To honor those who went from Jasper County to serve in the World War this stone was erected by the American Legion Auxiliary Dewey Biggs Post No 29. Dedicated November 11, 1927
Obviously the people who put it up did not realize that in just a few years there would be another World War. The plaque is attached to a large boulder that is surrounded by a little hedge.
Memorial or Flat Iron Park is similar to
Milroy Park, which has a
memorial to the Civil War, but much smaller. Their basic function is to look nice. However, Milroy Park has some places to sit while Memorial Park has none, and Milroy Park has some
additional plaques. Milroy Park is big enough so that people can play frisbee in it (and I am told that at one time had a tennis court), while there is very little one can do in Flat Iron Park. Flat Iron Park, though, has a cannon.
Here is a closer look. I do not know where the name Flat Iron Park came from.
And here is a look at the entire park, a little triangle of land that was created by the transition of the city streets from the north-south/east-west grid to the east and the angled grid of the original plat that followed the river.
I think it needs a bench or a picnic table. What do you think would improve it?
It reads:
Memorial or Flat Iron Park is similar to Milroy Park, which has a memorial to the Civil War, but much smaller. Their basic function is to look nice. However, Milroy Park has some places to sit while Memorial Park has none, and Milroy Park has some additional plaques. Milroy Park is big enough so that people can play frisbee in it (and I am told that at one time had a tennis court), while there is very little one can do in Flat Iron Park. Flat Iron Park, though, has a cannon.
Here is a closer look. I do not know where the name Flat Iron Park came from.
And here is a look at the entire park, a little triangle of land that was created by the transition of the city streets from the north-south/east-west grid to the east and the angled grid of the original plat that followed the river.
I think it needs a bench or a picnic table. What do you think would improve it?
It would b e a nice addition to your story if you added the info from the Jasper County Historical magazine about Flat Iron Park. I am sure Mr. Campbell would give you the details for free. I can't remember them all, but it seems that the giant rock (glacial fodder) was found on a farm east of the Iroquois River and someone (county I believe) would not let the bring it across the bridge, so they did it in the dead of night as to not be caught. More details in one of those historical magazines. You might be able to browse through it at Jordan's also on your way to work.
ReplyDeleteAlso, any ideas on what kind of stone it is? I have never taken the time to identify it.
i remember this stone well. i kinda, sorta remember the cannon, but the giant stone, i remember it well. i didn't remember what it was for, specifically, but i remember walking around it more than once after school at st. A's. i'd walk to daycare after school and go by the memorial park on my way. i think i use to treat the rock like an imaginary friend. and i swear i visited it after easter and wondered if it had found an easter basket. it hadn't, so i found an imaginary basket hiding in the bushes. don't ask me why i remember that specific visit to the stone, but i do.
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