BAXTER — The $35,000 expansion to Baxter’s veterans memorial on Main Street is expected to be completed by mid-summer with more bricks and more lights.
The expansion is led by the Baxter American Legion Post 493. A four-phase expansion has so far included a pair of 1,300 pound concrete soldier statues and two additional walls — 125 bricks each. The bricks will be installed this summer.
Eighty-five new names of military men and women will be added to the memorial, leaving 165 empty slots.
“We’ll have a bunch of blank ones for the future, and that’s what we wanted so we didn’t have to add on again,” Baxter American Legion member and Vietnam-era veteran Greg Christianson said.
Two flag poles will also be placed in upcoming months on each side of the already existing flag. Lights will then shine on each of the statues and flags.
Christianson has been in charge of the expansion since talks about it began three years ago. The final phase upgrade includes the addition of a howitzer cannon, but because of the country’s involvement in current wars, it might take a few years until Baxter receives the cannon from the U.S. government. However, Christianson has hopes it might be sooner rather than later.
“We have the paperwork in for that and as they’re pulling people out of Afghanistan, it’s more and more likely we will get one.”
The cannon would be placed along the right side of the memorial near the intersection of Main Street and Station Street.
The expansion was an expensive one, but donations and fundraising made the upgrades possible.
The Legion received $35,000 in donations from a mass mailing to community households, which allowed people a chance to buy a brick for $75. Fundraising dinners have also covered a large portion of the cost.
In addition, Baxter residents Pat and Carmen Milligan donated $14,000. That and many other generous donations from community members helped fuel this project.
The Baxter Garden Club has shown interest in contributing to the memorial by offering to plant flowers around the statues, which would be a horseshoe shape plot around the pillars the statues stand on.
“We’d like to get it so it looks like these soldiers are walking through the grass,” Christianson said. “Another reason is it would help protect the statues from being damaged.”
Other than money, community members have also donated time and supplies, which Christianson said he is very thankful for. The memorial has come a long way since it was initially built in 1997, to honor Jasper County military men and women.
“We’re just tickled that we got the donations and that it’s looking like it is,” Christianson said.
American Legion member Lawrence Halter has also been heavily involved with the upgrades throughout the year. Halter already owns a brick on one of the existing walls as the only World War II veteran remaining in Baxter.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Halter said. “We aren’t a big town, and a lot of little towns don’t have anything. This is quite a bit. I like it.”
This summer, after the flagpoles are installed and the new bricks are placed in the walls, Christianson said the Baxter American Legion wants to plan a celebration to thank the community for making the expansion possible.
Christianson wanted to have the upgrades completed before Memorial Day, but it is unlikely. The Legion will still have its normal celebration at the cemetery May 25.