Southern Route

[tps_header]Downtown Fargo Audio Walking Tour: Southern Route[/tps_header]

Stop 1: Civil War Soldier Statue – Island Park

[sc_embed_player fileurl=”https://fargounderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/01-Island-Park-Civil-War-Statue.mp3″]

This statue of a Union soldier, almost hidden in a small grove of spruce trees, stands guard at the entrance to Island Park. It was dedicated on Decoration Day, forerunner to our present-day Memorial Day holiday, in 1916. Governor Louis B. Hanna and the Grand Army of the Republic (a Civil War veterans group) raised the necessary funds to commission the monument. The inscription at the base of the statue reads: “To the Dead a Tribute, To the Living a Memory, To Posterity an Inspiration.”