The people of Rochester gathered in the park on this day in 1868. They were erecting and dedicating a granite monument to the town’s fallen Civil War soldiers.

It was a momentous occasion, and possibly the first event in Rochester captured on film. A photographer set up a portable studio in the park and waited for the monument to arrive.

The monument came from Barre, where the granite was quarried, cut and scultped.The cost of the monument to the town was about $1,600. Carved into the stone were the names of the 41 brave Rochester men who gave their lives in the Civil War.

The Vermont Book Of Days photo.