Girl Scout Troop Helped Restore Framingham’s Civil War Statue in 2001

A three-year effort by a local Girl Scout troop to restore a neglected Civil War statue was celebrated on April 28, 2001 at a rededication ceremony  in front of the Edgell Memorial Library in Framingham Center. More than 100 people attended the event. 

The restoration effort was spearheaded by the Framingham Girl Scout Troop 2112, which began the project in 1998 as part of a national Save our Statues initiative.

“The 13 girls and three troop leaders learned about the need to repair the statue from local conservator Rika Smith McNally,” reported The Boston Globe. “Troop 2112 then spent the next two years raising money for the restoration.” 

They collected “nearly $1,000 in pennies collected from Framingham elementary school students, and almost $5,000 in private donations from businesses and individuals,” wrote the Globe, in addition to a $1,000 grant from the Framingham Cultural Council and $9,000 from Save Our Statues. 

The girls received a Preservation Award from the Massachusetts Historical Commission, which was presented by Secretary of State William Galvin at a State House ceremony in May, 2001.

The  Framingham Civil War statue was created in 1872  by Irish immigrant Martin Milmore, a notable sculpture whose other works include the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Boston Common and the American Sphinx at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.   Read more about Martin Milmore and his brothers, who emigrated from Sligo to Boston with their widowed mother during the Irish Famine years

Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) was a nationwide survey committed to documenting and preserving America’s outdoor sculpture, according to the Smithsonian.  Established in 1990, SOS! helped educate local communities about America’s endangered sculptural heritage. 

The Civil War statue in Framingham will soon become part of a new Irish Heritage Trail being created in Central Massachusetts by the Boston Irish Tourism Association, which create the original Boston Irish Heritage Trail in 1994.  Read the Worcester Telegram story by Sarah Barnacle about this project. 

Research + Text, Michael Quinlin