ST. REGIS FALLS — A park to honor local veterans that has been several years in the making took a giant step forward Tuesday, thanks to community volunteers and donations of money and manpower from the Home Depot store in Massena.
A crew of 13 Home Depot workers joined with members of American Legion Post 322 and other community members to put in a full day of work at the memorial park, which is being built between the Post and the post office on Main Street. The Home Depot workers were there on their time off and “were completely volunteer,” said Carrie Bordeleau, the merchandising assistant store manager at the Massena store, who supervised her team’s efforts.
Home Depot volunteer Laurie Lowenstein said she was very happy to volunteer for the project.
“The vets deserve it,” she said.
The Home Depot Foundation also gave the post a $9,500 grant to help pay for materials and other costs associated with the park, Ms. Bordeleau said.
The park has been planned since at least 2012, when members of the American Legion Post decided the community needed something to honor those who had served. The only veterans memorial currently in the community commemorates those who fought in the Civil War, and the vets wanted to recognize those who had served since that time.
Members of the Post, who come from six communities in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, decided to put the park on a vacant plot of land adjacent to the Post building. That way, visitors to the park can easily step into the building and see photos of local veterans displayed on the walls there.
The main purpose of the park “is to come back and reflect and to honor our vets,” said Post Commander Cody Chester, who also acts as co-chairman of the Park Committee. The Legion hopes to create an area that is peaceful to visitors as well as relaxing –– “a park to relax and sit,” Mr. Chester said.
The centerpiece of the park will be an M101a1 howitzer, which the Legion received around the first of the year. A pathway made up of bricks engraved with the names of area veterans will lead to and surround the concrete pad where the centerpiece will sit, along with a memorial stone. A stone wall built in tiers will separate the park from adjoining properties, and landscaping will help relieve the hardness of the brick and stone.
“We will plant Japanese maple trees to soften it up a little,” Mr. Chester said. “We want a place to come and reflect.”
The project has been an extensive –– and expensive –– undertaking for the small Legion post, which has only about 70 members. Before the Home Depot grant, much of the cost of the park was being covered through fundraising events, primarily in the form of raffles, and the sale of the memorial bricks. The post also received a $1,000 donation from the St. Regis Falls Historians Association for bricks to commemorate members of the association and veterans who no longer have family in the area.
“This is a small town with a small group of guys with a few donations (who) raised all the money,” said Post Adjutant Randy N. Farmer, who has also been very involved with the project.
The park is expected to cost as much as $20,000 before it is completed, so the fundraising efforts are expected to continue, Mr. Chester said.
“There is no time limit to get a brick,” Chester added, noting that each brick costs $40.
Construction expertise and money weren’t the only things that helped the park project move forward on Tuesday. Members of the community provided a bounteous lunch for the workers in gratitude for their service to the park. St. Regis Falls hospitality was apparent in the variety of different foods, especially with Legion member and Vietnam Vet Jim Purcell providing a Crock-Pot full of his homemade beef sausage and sauerkraut –– which was a hit with the Home Depot work crew and Legion members. Many baked goods and salads were provided by community members.
Anyone interested in purchasing a brick to honor a vet at the Memorial Park, or providing other assistance to help complete the park can call Cody Chester at 315-528-5547.

View more history for Post 322 in St Regis Falls, New York