Turlock cannon likely to take up new post at downtown’s Central Park

Turlock appears to be at peace with history, having reached preliminary agreement on where to put the old cannon that for half a century stood guard at the city’s War Memorial.

A conceptual drawing prepared for consideration at Wednesday’s Parks, Arts and Recreation Commission meeting places the disabled artillery piece in Central Park, overlooking Golden State Boulevard at Main Street in the heart of downtown. The City Council will make the final decision.

“We want to maintain this fixture in our community and honor our veterans,” said Allison Van Guilder, director of Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities. “This is meant to highlight it in a very significant way, and pay a tremendous amount of respect to our veterans.”

Veterans’ groups have followed the cannon’s move, and opinion seems to have coalesced around Central Park, Van Guilder said. “We will be working closely with our local military groups to develop the new project,” she said.

An early suggestion was to put the cannon at the access road to the San Joaquin Valley Cemetery by Santa Nella. Placing it at the intersection of Highway 33 would make the turnoff easier to find for visitors, John Humphrey told the commission last month.

Mike Seward, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, at the first meeting offered a fenced site for the cannon at VFW headquarters on East Linwood in south Turlock.

An officer with Disabled American Veterans Chapter 74, which meets at the VFW site, said a fenced location would deter vandalism. Vice Commander Silvestro Manente Jr. told commissioners he believes the DAV gave the city the old cannon in the first place.

But he had no proof. There are no records showing where the cannon came from or when it was installed at the War Memorial, said Van Guilder and Scott Atherton, general manager of Turlock Memorial Park and unofficial Turlock historian.

“The War Memorial was dedicated in 1951, and the cannon was not there at that time,” Atherton said. He found later pictures in the records of the Turlock Historical Society showing the cannon in place in the 1960s.

The cannon appears to be of Korean War vintage, from June 1951 to July 1953. Nearly 37,000 Americans died in Korea.

It is Turlock’s second cannon. A smaller, Civil War cannon made in 1979 and restored by Wayne Rickey stands in the Grand Army of the Republic Park across from Fire Station No. 1 at Marshall Street and Minaret Avenue. GAR Park, as most people call it, also has a Women’s Relief Corps marker.

Van Guilder said GAR park was her first thought, because of its memorial theme, but the small, triangular site did not have room to display the larger cannon well.

“I think this (Central Park) will display it in a much more positive way. It’s in the main core of downtown, where so many more people passing through are going to be able to see it and enjoy it,” she said Wednesday.

Central Park is a slim, one-block-long strip of green covered by large trees and bisected by the Turlock Chamber of Commerce office. The conceptual drawing unveiled at Wednesday’s meeting shows the cannon at the park’s southeast corner.

In the drawing it faces out toward Golden State Boulevard in what is now a sunny lawn area. On the shady northern section stands a somber statue of city founder John Mitchell.

Park visitors said the large expanse of lawn by the bus stop offered an ideal display area. “That way everybody could see it,” said Linda Sensanbaughter, who said she spends a lot of time at Central Park, but no longer sleeps there. The homeless and city bus passengers make up the majority of park visitors most days.

But downtown shoppers pass by constantly, and lunch and evenings diners at 10 East Kitchen & Tap House fill the adjacent parking lot.

The cannon was removed from the War Memorial in May. The building, along with the rest of Turlock’s former Civic Center, is being sold to Turlock Irrigation District, which takes up the block’s southeast corner.

Rental agreements at the War Memorial will be honored through February 2016. Van Guilder said the rental income at the site did not cover maintenance and repairs. “It is an aging facility,” she said.

The cannon has been tucked away for safekeeping in Turlock’s corporation yard. It will take part in the city’s Fourth of July parade this year.

The City Council is expected to take up the matter of its permanent home July 14. Dedication ceremonies are being planned for Veterans Day.

This story was originally published June 10, 2015 at 7:58 PM with the headline "Turlock cannon likely to take up new post at downtown’s Central Park."