City taking steps to repair, preserve Pony Express Monument
By Cameron Montemayor
After more than 85 years, Mother Nature is beginning to take a toll on a longtime centerpiece of Downtown and symbol of St. Joseph’s history.
The Pony Express Monument has welcomed residents to Downtown St. Joseph on Frederick Avenue since it was first constructed in 1938, but decades of exposure are causing the massive granite slab that holds the bronze statue to deteriorate, compromising the entire structure.
“I don’t know exactly how long it takes for water to damage granite, but it has finally won the battle,” St. Joseph Assistant Parks Director Jeff Atkins said. “If (water) finds a crack, a hole, anything that it can get into, it will eventually destroy whatever it’s getting into.”
The two-piece granite base weighs in at a whopping 45 tons. Various sections of the granite base are cracking or falling off altogether, creating large holes that will only continue to get worse over time. The statue was first constructed in 1938 and officially opened to the public in 1940.
Now, parks officials are laying the groundwork to ensure its preservation. The bronze statue will have to be lifted and separated before the granite base is removed and replaced with a new custom-made structure. Granite for the project will be supplied from Vermont.
The St. Joseph City Council is expected to vote on a contract with Brooner Construction and Crane for the project at its next meeting Sept. 3, opening the door for the project to move forward.
“That will allow them a full 13-month window to do the project,” Atkins said. “People just don’t have 45-ton pieces of granite laying around with the Pony Express wording. It takes time to get something like that done. You’ve got to essentially build something.”
The replacement project comes with a costly price tag: $367,269 in American Rescue Plan Act funds will be budgeted to create and install the new base.
“VanVickle Monuments here in town is also partnering with Brooner so we’ve got a local expert that’s going to be working with the statue,” Atkins said.
Between the monument’s historical significance to St. Joseph and the city’s centennial celebration set for 2027, a newly-repaired statue will compliment a variety of planned Civic Center Park upgrades across the street, including extensive repairs to sidewalks, the fountain and replacement of the west-facing park balustrade with a new stairwell.
“People from all over come to St. Joseph to visit not only the monument for pictures, but they go to the Pony Express Museum,” Atkins said. “Some of us who have grown up here in St. Joe, we kind of take it for granted.”
