By Jonathan Comey, Neighb News Correspondent
The process of moving a decades old war memorial from the old Russell Library on Main Street in Acushnet was set into motion Tuesday, capping months of effort and planning.
Under the supervision of Matt Tripp, Acushnet’s foreperson for public building maintenance, a team of contracted workers moved enormous pieces of the monument via crane to a flatbed.
“It’s been a lot of moving parts getting this moving,” Mr. Tripp said, noting that the monument would eventually find its new home at the Acushnet fire station. “It’s a big process, definitely.”
Town meeting voters approved a $60,000 outlay for the project last year, but Mr. Tripp said it was not easy finding the required three bids for the job despite the sizable budget. In the end, it was Kingston-based Colonial Stone that was selected for the project.
Owner Frank Drollett looked on as members of his crew and that of Eric’s Crane Service of Whitman tried to puzzle out how to safely move the individual pieces and keep them intact.
It will be broken down into 13 or 14 pieces.
After about two hours, the top of the monument had been disassembled and prepared for the voyage on the flatbed just a few hundred feet up Main Street to the fire station.
But the bigger task is still to come: moving the large slabs that served as the base of the Civil War tribute, which Mr. Drollett estimated weighed as much as 30 tons.
“That will definitely require a bigger crane,” he said with a grin, noting that those machines cost well over a million dollars. He estimated that the project would be completed in 4-6 weeks.
Information on when the monument was placed at the site was not available by press time, but everyone agrees it has been there for decades.
The inscription on it reads: “In memory of the soldiers of Acushnet who served in the Army and Navy of the Civil War and other wars for the preservation of the Union.”
The moving of the monument comes as preparations are made for the historic building to be available for sale.
According to Acushnet Town Administrator, James Kelley, voters decided three town meetings ago to sell the old library. He said they did a “bunch of research” and decided the best place for it will be at the Fire Station at Parting Ways.
He said the veterans memorial at Pope Park is not an appropriate location because there is not enough room there.
The town will also have to locate a time capsule that is somewhere in the front of the building.
“Then we can put it up for sale, said Mr. Kelley.
There is also a smaller monument that will have to be removed, but the town’s Department of Public Works will be able to do that, he said.
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- Workers from Colonial Stone size up a large monument being moved from the Russell Memorial Library to the Acushnet Fire Station on 8/5/25. Photo by Jonathan Comey for the Fairhaven Neighborhood News.
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- Eric Kavanagh of Eric’s Crane Service guides a column from a large monument being moved from the Russell Memorial Library to the Acushnet Fire Station to a flatbed truck on 8/5/25. Photo by Jonathan Comey for the Fairhaven Neighborhood News.
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- Eric Kavanagh of Eric’s Crane Service watches as a column is lifted high in the air after being removed from a large monument being moved from the Russell Memorial Library to the Acushnet Fire Station on 8/5/25. Photo by Jonathan Comey for the Fairhaven Neighborhood News.
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- Eric Kavanagh of Eric’s Crane Service gives a final push to a column from a large monument being moved from the Russell Memorial Library to the Acushnet Fire Station to a flatbed truck on 8/5/25. Photo by Jonathan Comey for the Fairhaven Neighborhood News.
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