How it will be Observed -
A Monument to Deceased Soldiers
Next Thursday is Memorial Day. Besides the usual observance
in this town the day will be made memorable by an event which has been looked forward to with pleasure by
the members of the local Post and the Relief Corps, the completion of a monument in Union Cemetery to the
memory of the brave soldiers who bore arms for their country's defense.
Members of Gen. Geo. S. Evans Post, the Relief Corps, citizens and school children will leave town
at 1:30 P.M. and march to the cemetery where the usual exercises will take place. The oration will be
delivered by J.W. Boone of San Francisco after which the graves of the deceased soldiers will be decorated.
A cordial invitation is extended to the citizens and all of the school children of this vicinity
to participate in the observance of the day. It is hoped that those who have flowers will donate liberally.
The same may be left at J. W. Glennan's shop on Main Street.
The new monument which will be completed by next Thursday will stand on the triangular lot
near the entrance of the cemetery. The lot is seventy-five feet long on each side, forty-two feet
at the rear, and at the entrance is twenty feet wide. It is to be surrounded with an 8x16 inch
granite coping. Projecting from the coping will be posts of cannon shape placed fifteen feet apart.
In the center of the lot will stand the monument which will rest on a concrete foundation five feet
square. The pedestal will be of granite about nine feet high. On the four sides are emblems of the
different branches of the service. On the side of the pedestal fronting the entrance of the cemetery
is the inscription: "To the Memory of California's Patriotic Dead who served during the war for the
Union. Mustered Out." On the opposite side are the lines "Erected by the Grateful People of San Mateo
County." The pedestal will be surmounted by a metal figure of a soldier standing at ease. The monument
when completed will be fifteen feet high. It was built by the Western Marble and Granite Company of San
Jose, and will be a handsome addition to the cemetery. Messrs. P.P. Chamberlain and John Stafford who
have charge of the collection of funds to defray the cost of this work ask the people to contribute
liberally as there is still a considerable sum due.
The members of the Post now own a lot in which will be buried all United States soldiers,
including those who served in the Mexican War, who have died in this county. The bodies of those
who are now buried at the county farm or in Potter's will be taken up and re-interred in this lot
where the people can annually gather and do honor to their memory.>
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