News: Greenwood Monument Repaired (1982)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Durig, Arbs, Rodin, Roosevelt

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 7/22/1982

Greenwood Monument Repaired (1982)

The city crew of Greenwood has been making good use of some of Listeman Foundation money in preserving the community’s Peace Monument. A water repellent has been applied and a few cracks repaired.

It was 1937 when some seven or eight thousand people gathered for the unveiling of the 15-foot high statue of a Gold Star Mother holding the flag and clutching her fallen son. A Swiss-native, Professor Durig, and his family came to visit in Greenwood. (Mrs. Durig’s sister was Mrs. Louis Arbs.) The brief visit lasted all summer when his talents were offered to do a statue for the city. The Greenwood Commercial Club took it upon themselves to provide material for Durig.

A Manitowoc cement company provided the fine manufactured stone, made of one part white cement and two parts fine white sand, which gives the impression of solid granite. This type of material was commonly used in Europe, according to Durig.

Durig claimed to have been the last pupil of the famed August Rodin. (Rodin is probably best known for his sculpture of the Thinker.) Durig had photos to show how he had plied his talents in granite, bronze or other materials. He also made plaster busts of many prominent people in the Greenwood area.

While the professor worked, his wife wrote poetry in German. Rosemarie, the 17-year-old daughter, was generous with her talents in providing harp music for various church groups in Neillsville and Marshfield as well as in Greenwood.

The enclosure where Durig worked was a point of interest in the center of the city.

At a dedication, the Greenwood Women’s Club invited dignitaries and personal friends of the Durigs, like Mussolini and President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Even though the honored guests declined, there were guest from at least eight other states who registered for the unveiling and banquet which followed.

Incorporated with the peace monument theme, since its construction had lasted into October, the inscription also included in “Memory of the 150th anniversary of the formation of the Constitution of the United States of America 1787.”

In 1965, “Life” magazine came out with a story on Prof. Durig and Rodin, terming Durig a “flagrant faker.” Durig had been found alone, destitute and starving and in 1962 he died. His wife had also died, and their adopted daughter had been killed in an automobile accident before that.

But Greenwood has no regrets that Durig created the Peace Monument. “He would be welcomed back today,” as one said.