THE PLATTSVILLE & DISTRICT HERITAGE SOCIETY has received $3,000 in grants from the Township of Blandford-Blenheim, originally to restore lighting in the globes on the pillars of the Memorial Gates. However such pillars are in need of repairs due to crumbling bases and cracks in the walls as well as the wrought iron straightened and painted. TO OUR HEROES has been missing the center of the "O" in TO for many years. The gates were originally installed in 1921 on Albert Street at the Memorial Park after the Great War. In the late 1950's when the Memorial Park on Albert Street was moved to the present location due to the expansion of Canada Sandpaper, little information can be found as to the $ exchanged for the park or the purchase of land from the Walter Hofstetter farm on whose lands the park now sits or who designed the new structure. Land records at Service Ontario show a purchase by the Police Village of Plattsville and Township of Blenheim in the late 1950's. At that time the gates were redesigned from a straight structure to a curved structure. Very few persons are left in Plattsville who actually remember the original structure and even less pictures. Some estimates have been obtained for pillar and wrought iron restoration (gates and fencing require removing from park to sandblast because of environment) which is in the vicinity of $20,000 to $25,000, depending on time frame with the fluctuation of costs in the present market. Moving forward "THE SOCIETY" will raise funds as sanctioned by the Township to restore and repair the gates as shown today in picture to the right. We will issue tax receipts to all donors until there are enough funds to work with the Township and our $3000 to repair/restore the Gates for future generations to come and light the globes, dark for so long. Donation information here.
Government of Canada ~ War Memorial Gates Listing ~ Plattsville https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/national-inventory-canadian-memorials/details/5092