Marathon Pundit: Veterans Day 11/11/11: Morrison, IL memorial and millstone

Veterans Park and Memorial

Adjacent to Grove Hill Cemetery in Morrison, Illinois is Veterans Park and Memorial. The names of Morrison area veterans are listed on black granite plaques next to the flag plaza.

Morrison is the seat of Whiteside County. Ronald Reagan was born 100 years ago in the county--in Tampico. His parents, Nelle Wilson and Jack, were born in the county too, in the Mississippi River town of Fulton.

The county is named for Samuel Whiteside, a captain in the War of 1812 and a general in the Black Hawk War. Abraham Lincoln served under Whiteside in the latter conflict.

Besides the traditional flag and howitzer memorial, there is a unique remembrance for the twenty-two Morrison area troops who died during World War I. An elm tree was planted in 1924 in their honor--I assume the tree was killed by Dutch elm disease in the 1960s or the 1970s. The plaque remains and was placed on an old millstone from 1853. The stone comes from Whiteside County's Malvern Roller Mill, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.