$125,000 fund drive gets a boost
By: Marjorie Censer
The audience braced itself as Princeton Borough Council President Mildred Trotman called for a drumroll from the American Revolution-styled drummer at Sunday’s ceremony outside Borough Hall. Within seconds, the Princeton Battle Monument was illuminated in a one-time sample of what borough officials would like to make permanent.
The event, which also celebrated borough volunteers and employees and the formation of the new nonprofit Princeton Parks Alliance, kicked off the campaign to raise $125,000 to permanently illuminate the historic monument. The state has budgeted funds to clean the state-owned monument and is slated to begin the six-month project in spring 2006.
Mayor Joseph O’Neill has headed the restoration and illumination effort, but he was unable to attend the Sunday ceremony. Ms. Trotman led the well-attended event all six council members came, as well as state Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton Borough) and many members of borough and regional boards and committees.
Members of the council said they wished Mayor O’Neill, who is recovering at home from a mild heart attack, had been able to attend, and praised his work on the project.
"Mayor O’Neill is a man of ideas," Councilman Andrew Koontz said. "Quite frequently, ideas are represented by light bulbs, right? Well, this idea actually is light bulbs."
Mr. Koontz announced that Princeton resident Charles Stone, a principal of the New York-based architectural lighting design firm Fisher Marantz Stone, has been chosen to design the lighting scheme. The permanent illumination is slated to be completed by Jan. 3, 2007 the 230th anniversary of the Battle of Princeton, which the monument commemorates.
Sunday’s sample lighting was done by Lighting Detectives, a New York-based lighting research and advocacy group.
Mr. Koontz asked those in attendance to consider donating to the fund for the monument’s illumination, a fund that will be kept by the Princeton Parks Alliance.
"We are calling upon the generosity of this community," he said. "We have a unique opportunity to shed some light on history and to make Princeton a brighter place."
Kevin Wilkes, a founding member of the parks alliance, said some large donations are already planned and will be announced soon.
The limestone battle monument was designed by the Beaux Arts sculptor Frederick MacMonnies with the help of architect Thomas Hastings. Commissioned in 1908, it was finished and dedicated in 1922 with President Warren G. Harding in attendance.
The sculpture, intended to commemorate the Jan. 3, 1777, Battle of Princeton, depicts George Washington leading his troops into battle and the death of Gen. Hugh Mercer.
The park around the monument underwent a major renovation in 1999 when a vehicular driveway was transformed into a graveled pedestrian mall lined with teak benches leading up to a new cobblestone plaza in front of the monument.