This file part of www.watertownhistory.org website
Memorial Park
1940s, Hartig Brewery in background WHS_PC266
More people here are familiar with the old beer cellars that are located under Memorial Park, which was once the site of the Fuermann brewery. After the brewery was destroyed and remained only a ruin and an eyesore the old cellars came into partial view and boys playing on the lot used them for hideouts. When the city acquired the property and the development of the park began one of the first tasks was to fill in the old passages. A part of the park area caused trouble for years. A lot of old refuse, tin cans, etc. had been used to fill in a portion of the place and over the years a section of it began to cave in. This caused a great deal of trouble for city and park board officials and the great memorial arch, which originally stood at the southwest entrance of the park, had to be repaired and replaced, as the settling ground caused it to crack and break. After repairs had been made several times and a portion of the original arch had been removed entirely the entire structure was torn down and rebuilt at the southeast entrance of the park where it now stands. That section of the park had never been used for cellars and consequently provided a better location for such a heavy structure as the arch.
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Plan to Dismantle City’s
Honor Roll
City Officials and Veterans Groups to Discuss New Records
Watertown Daily Times, 12 18 1946
Plans for the dismantling of the present World War II honor roll in Memorial Park and working out a system for a permanent record of men and women who served in the war are to be taken up at a meeting of a city council committee and representatives of the Pitterle-Beaudoin post of the American Legion, the Beaudoin-Draeger-Koehler post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Watertown garrison of the Army and Navy union to be held in the near future.
The present honor roll is to be torn down completely under the plan. But what other means will be used to make the records permanent are still to be worked out.
The honor roll has served its purpose and has now reached the point where it is deteriorating and must be done away with if it is not to stand as an eyesore to the community; the city council was told last night. Some veterans have already protested the present state of the roll.
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Later: Honor Roll Veteran's
wall, along sidewalk by High School on
