Historic Doughboy Statue to Get Facelift, Courtesy of Town of Bethel

Bethel, CT — At their June 21, 2016 meeting, the Board of Selectmen voted to grant $10,300 to the Bethel Historical Society for repairs that need to be made on the doughboy statue in P.T. Barnum Square.

Patch reported last week that funding for the project was coming from a facilities maintenance account, according to the First Selectman, however, Pat Rist, Executive Director of Bethel's Historical Society, said the monies are not a grant to the Historical Society and since Bethel owns the statue, the town would be responsible for the repairs.

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"Unfortunately, the minutes were not correct and the monies are not a grant to the Historical Society. Bethel owns the statue and thus would be responsible for the repairs," Rist told Patch. "I contacted Matt [Knickerbocker] and went over everything with him and the Board of Selectmen agreed this work needed to be done in order not to lose the statue."

According to Rist, the copper statue's maintenance instructions are as follows:

• Photo documentation of process
• Wax finish
• Install new mounting as needed
• Unify patina to bring the color back to the overall warm brown, close to the original color
• Remove active corrosion, accretions, dirt and grime
• Restoration of sculpture surface
• Transport to Polich Tallix
• Deinstall the sculpture from the existing granite pedestal
• Deinstall
• Transport

The statue is being deinstalled on Tuesday July 19 beginning at 7 a.m. at a cost of $10,300. Rist told Patch that the money is coming from a town fund but said the first selectman will have to respond to clarify which one.

Polich Tallix is located in Rock Tavern, NY, and was chosen by the Historical Society because, according to Rist, it "is a very reputable foundry and casted the Barnum Statue and the Veterans' Memorial on the Municipal Center Lawn. It only made sense to go with a known entity."

The project should be completed by October, according to First Selectman Matthew Knickerbocker.

The doughboy soldier statue is called the "Spirit of the American Doughboy" and commemorates American contributions in WWI, according to First Selectman Matthew Knickerbocker, who told Patch:

"About 140 or so of these statues were manufactured in the 1920's by a New York based company and sold to towns around the nation. My understanding is there are not too many left. Ours is beginning to corrode through its copper sheeting and the mortar that holds it to the granite base is coming apart. The firm that built it is still in business. They will send a truck to remove it, recondition it at their foundry, clean the base and reinstall it."

Waymarking.com states that the pressed copper version (copyright 1920) was made by E.M. Viquesney and installed in 1928 in the center of Bethel. The structure stands 7 feet tall and depicts a World War I infantryman holding a grenade in his raised right hand and holding a rifle, horizontally, by his side in his left hand.

The front of the base is inscribed:

"ERECTED BY THE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION OF BETHEL IN HONOR OF HER WAR VETERANS"

At the bottom of the base, in raise numbers, is the date "1928."

"This was brought to my attention by the Bethel Historical Society. They feared it would not last another winter without suffering permanent damage," Knickerbocker stated.

Image by Google Earth

Snowy doughboy photo by Janet Walsh

Related:

Bethel Selectmen Vote to Grant $10,300 in Repairs for Historic Doughboy Statue