Mt. Airy, PA War Tribute Re-dedication

By Barry Johnson
Pennsylvania World War One Centennial Committee

The re-dedication team (L-to-R): Barry Johnson, volunteer, Pennsylvania World War One Centennial Committee; Irv Miller, Treasurer, Friends of Lovett memorial Library; David T. Moore, President, Friends of Lovett memorial Library; Bayard Fiechter, whose great uncle Jaques A. Fiechter is listed on the plaque.In the Philadelphia neighborhood of Mount Airy, a ceremony was held in December, 2017 to rededicate the Mount Airy World War I Tribute memorial, with newly-installed bronze plaques. These plaques replaced the originals, which were lost sometime in the 1970s.

The war tribute is located on the grounds of the Lovett Memorial Library, a neighborhood branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The memorial was originally dedicated May 25, 1924.

The names of 34 men and one woman from Mount Airy who lost their lives during the First World War are listed on the larger plaque (20” X 30”), with the smaller plaque stating that the boulder is from Valley Forge.

The replacement bronzes, made by Franklin Bronze Plaques, Franklin, PA, cost $1600. The plastic replicas made by a sign company in Ardmore cost $300. Both sets of plaques were paid for by the Friends of the Lovett Memorial Library. Planned during 2016., the re-dedication of the plaques had to await completion of a $31 million renovation and expansion of the Lovett library branch.

For safekeeping, the new bronzes are mounted inside the library in the Community Room, with excellent plastic replicas mounted on the stone outside the library on Germantown Avenue.

I discovered the empty boulder as part of the World War I Memorial Inventory Project, managed by WW1CC partner Mark Levitch. I documented the memorial site in August of 2015, and have worked with the Friends of the Lovett Memorial Library since March, 2016 to replace the lost plaques.

Research by Professor Kenneth Finkel of Temple University uncovered a photograph of the boulder, with original plaques, in the Philadelphia City Archives. This was the key discovery which made possible the creation of the replacement plaques. Until then, the plaques could not be replaced as the inscription text was not known.

A historical photo of the Mt. Airy Monument in 1927. 

(Above and two below) Photos of the Mount Airy Monument found in the Philadelphia City Archives by Professor Kenneth Finkel of Temple University were essential to the restoration.

 Photo of the memorial stone on the library grounds prior to restoration.

 Photo of the newly-restored Mt. Airy memorial at the Lovett Memorial Library.