T-L Photo/LENNY WITTENBROOK The statue of a Civil War-era Union soldier currently stands in Barnesville’s Southern Cemetery. It will soon be cleaned up and moved to Veterans Plaza along Main Street after council members approved funding the project upon learning that the monument’s footer is beginning to break apart.

BARNESVILLE — Village Council approved funding for a project to have the community’s 124-year-old Civil War soldier statue cleaned and moved from Southern Cemetery to Veterans Plaza in the downtown.

Village Administrator Roger Deal informed council members during their April 22 meeting that the base on which the monument stands is beginning to break apart and that some action would be needed to save the monument.

Councilwoman Robyn Misner, who is an officer with Barnesville American Legion Post 168 Ladies Auxiliary, said the legion would like to see it moved to Veterans Plaza, located at the corner of Main and Arch streets, very near to its original home.

“It originated here in front of the Municipal Building in 1900. The Women’s Relief Corps put it there, and any help we could get from the village for the expense of moving it would be appreciated,” Misner said, adding that Joel Braido of Braido Memorials had provided an estimate of $8,500 to $10,000 for the whole project.

The effort would include the footer, a new base, cleaning the statue and moving it.

Deal said the statue had been moved out to Southern Cemetery in 1914 after the village’s Memorial Day observances became too large to be held on the street in front of the Municipal Building. Organizers wanted the statue to be where the services were going to be held.

Deal said he feels the statue is one of the village’s hidden treasures and speculated that 90% of residents had never seen it.

In response to a question from Councilman Steve Hill, Deal said there was a concrete planter that could be removed to make a space for the statue on the plaza. He later noted that he believed part of Braido’s cost was that he would have to rent special equipment for the move.

Hill and Councilman Terry McCort agreed that the village should take care of the expense, and council eventually approved spending up to $10,000 as per Braido’s estimate.

Misner said the legion is planning to rededicate the statue after the move.