SCARBOROUGH – To Warren Delaware, it means something that, almost 100 years ago, the Soldiers Monument was erected at what is now the corner of Broadturn Road and Route 1 in Scarborough.

“That’s where I want to keep it,” said Delaware, a member of the Scarborough Historical Society. “There where (former residents) raise money and voted to put it. I don’t feel it is right to move it.”

Delaware is not alone in his opinion regarding the statue, which would have been moved according to preliminary plans to reconstruct the intersection, where the state is planning to add a right-turn-only lane from Broadturn onto Route 1. Town officials will now ask the state to reconsider the plan to move the statue following a public hearing last week.

“The overwhelming opinion expressed at the meeting for historical purposes and nostalgia is to keep the monument in Dunstan Corner,” Scarborough Town Manager Tom Hall said.

At the meeting, Hall said, residents spoke about the statue’s significance to that spot, and to the town’s history.

For Sarah J. Matteau, a fellow Scarborough Historical Society member who attended the meeting, the statue and section of town have great importance.

“I went to Dunstan School for eight years and I remember walking by it every day,” Matteau, who grew up in the Dustan Corner neighborhood, said in an interview. “It has always been there. It is nostalgic for me. I am not to only one who feels it should stay in the place where it is.”

She said she remembers, as a Girl Scout in the 1940s, the monument used to be part of the parade route to honor veterans in town. “I remember being in Girl Scouts and going to the different monuments in town,” she said.

Although Hall said several other location options were mentioned at the meeting, such as Memorial Park next to the high school, Dunstan cemetery, or town-owned land across from the current location, much of the meeting was spent talking about keeping the monument where it is.

“The principal thing we heard was the monument’s most important aspect is its history and tradition in the Dustan area and that it shouldn’t be moved,” said Jay Chace, assistant town planner.

It appears that since the intersection redesign is still in the preliminary stages, the plan can be reworked around the historic statue.

Hall and Chace said the next step is to reach out to the design engineers from the Department of Transportation to discuss how to design the project without impacting the monument.

There is a possibility, Hall said, that the design engineers could rework the project to include a sidewalk right next to the monument, which would help create better access to the monument.

Town officials in Scarborough will be working with design engineers from the Department of Transportation to redesign the corner of Broadturn Road and Route 1 to keep the historic Soliders Monument in place. (Staff photo by Michael Kelley)