thedrifter
11-25-06, 05:39 PM
College town refurbishes its 19th century cannon
BEREA, Ohio (AP) - A 19th century military cannon is getting a 21st century makeover while historians try to uncover its mysterious past.
The 130-year-old cannon has been a longtime fixture in downtown Berea, home of Baldwin-Wallace College.
But when Mayor Joe Biddlecombe saw the condition of the gun recently, he called Jim Jaworski, a Rolls Royce mechanic and local historian who restores antique cars. "Jimmy will fix anything," Biddlecombe said.
Jaworski, along with city worker Lou Stefanini and Vice Commander Mel Baher of Berea's American Legion Post 91, loaded the 800-pound cannon onto a pickup truck and took it to Jaworski's shop several blocks from the Berea practice facility of the Cleveland Browns.
Now the cannon sits dismantled among Jaworski's other repair jobs, including two Bentleys, three Rolls Royces and a '53 Ford pickup truck.
"Look how sophisticated this thing is," said Jaworski, scraping black paint off the cannon's bronze parts, revealing the date 1875. "Look how beautiful it fits together, how they machined all this 130 years ago."
Jaworski and other local historians are trying to trace the cannon's history, which was dedicated by city officials in 1913 as a memorial to Company D of the 5th Ohio Volunteers, a unit mobilized in Berea in April 1898 that fought in the Spanish American War.
So far, Jaworski has uncovered the writing "U.S. Navy Yard Washington." And he has learned that the gun is a howitzer used by the Navy or Marines.
"This may have quite a pedigree to it," he said. "It might have been used in the Indian wars and the Spanish American War."
The American Legion post has launched a community fundraiser to pay for the restoration, which will include new wooden wheels. One estimate is $1,000 for each wheel.
The plan is to put the cannon in Berea's Memorial Day parade next May and rededicate it at the same downtown spot. "We want it to last another hundred years," Baher said.
On the Net: www.bereaohio.com
Ellie
BEREA, Ohio (AP) - A 19th century military cannon is getting a 21st century makeover while historians try to uncover its mysterious past.
The 130-year-old cannon has been a longtime fixture in downtown Berea, home of Baldwin-Wallace College.
But when Mayor Joe Biddlecombe saw the condition of the gun recently, he called Jim Jaworski, a Rolls Royce mechanic and local historian who restores antique cars. "Jimmy will fix anything," Biddlecombe said.
Jaworski, along with city worker Lou Stefanini and Vice Commander Mel Baher of Berea's American Legion Post 91, loaded the 800-pound cannon onto a pickup truck and took it to Jaworski's shop several blocks from the Berea practice facility of the Cleveland Browns.
Now the cannon sits dismantled among Jaworski's other repair jobs, including two Bentleys, three Rolls Royces and a '53 Ford pickup truck.
"Look how sophisticated this thing is," said Jaworski, scraping black paint off the cannon's bronze parts, revealing the date 1875. "Look how beautiful it fits together, how they machined all this 130 years ago."
Jaworski and other local historians are trying to trace the cannon's history, which was dedicated by city officials in 1913 as a memorial to Company D of the 5th Ohio Volunteers, a unit mobilized in Berea in April 1898 that fought in the Spanish American War.
So far, Jaworski has uncovered the writing "U.S. Navy Yard Washington." And he has learned that the gun is a howitzer used by the Navy or Marines.
"This may have quite a pedigree to it," he said. "It might have been used in the Indian wars and the Spanish American War."
The American Legion post has launched a community fundraiser to pay for the restoration, which will include new wooden wheels. One estimate is $1,000 for each wheel.
The plan is to put the cannon in Berea's Memorial Day parade next May and rededicate it at the same downtown spot. "We want it to last another hundred years," Baher said.
On the Net: www.bereaohio.com
Ellie