After the Dedication, 1923 to March, 2014

Memorial, 1926

The memorial has seen some action over the years. In January 1923, the monument was “hurled from its base”when it was hit by a car belonging to Colonel Walker Taylor.

The damage was very substantial – it took months to repair because the “main upright stone, which was broken almost in half by the impact of the skidding autombile, has been replaced with a new one.  Little damage was done any other part of the monument.”

This isn't the only time a car has collided with it -- it was also struck by a “careless automobile driver” in December, 1936.

The memorial has also been cleaned, notably in 1932 when the newspaper reported the monument was “completely cleansed and put in good condition through the country of the Carolina Cut-Stone Company, of this city.The stone was badly defaced by pencil marks and other bits of vandalism, and on the suggestion of the ladies’ auxiliary of the American Legion here, the Carolina Cut-Stone company effaced such marks. They declined to accept payment for the work. All children and especially high school pupils are asked to abstain from marking this Monument.”

Still, for the most part,  the memorial stood in the median on Market Street, pretty much as it was, for more than fifty years.

 

 Then, in the 1970s, the War Memorial was moved in front of the school. 

It was reported in February 15, 1973’s newspaper that “two monuments from the plaza in front of New Hanover High School” were removed after the city’s planning commission approved an overhead ramp earlier in the month. One of those two monuments was the World War I memorial.

The overhead ramp, 2014
 

And, until 2014, that's where the monument stayed. 

Then in the Spring of 2014, a group of Wilmingtonians met to talk about moving, cleaning, and restoring the Memorial.