The
Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy experienced this very phenomenon in 2013 when
it stumbled upon two Civil War cannons in a field near the South Park lift bridge.
“When
they were discovered we immediately thought about being able to restore them
and return them to Front Park where we knew they had been from the photographs
we have,” said Tony James, park architect for the conservancy.
The
two cannons, known as Parrott Rifles, were originally part of a set of six
located at Front Park. A photograph in the conservancy’s archives dates the
cannons to the park before 1897.
After
their re-discovery in the fall of 2013, the two surviving cannons were shipped
to Cannons Online in New Windsor, Md., and were restored to their original
condition.
The
base that holds and transports the cannons, known as the carriage, had to be
fabricated by Steen Cannons in Ashland, Ky.,
since they did not survive the
years.
Both
the cannons and carriages remain in storage locations, awaiting good weather.
“We
have poured new concrete foundations for them ,” said James. “We do not have a
particular date in mind, but they will be celebrated with a dedication sometime
in the near future.”
According
to an April 1938 article from the Buffalo News, the cannons were sold for scrap
money during an auction held by the Buffalo Common Council. The council deemed
the cannons, along with 200 cannonballs, “junk”, and sold the relics to nine
different metal companies throughout the city.
The
cannons, which weighed 6,700 pounds each, were sold at $7 a ton, the
cannonballs at $9 a ton. By Sean Brock and Ally Rotundo
