The 100-plus year old cannon that has spent the last few decades on the lawn at the American Legion has recently been restored and moved to a new site in Wessington Springs. The Willman-Fee Post #14 of the American Legion has negotiated a move to the Veterans’ Memorial on the lawn at the Jerauld County Courthouse. Legionnaires Jim Tapken (left) and Walter Borkowski (right) are shown with the big gun at the new location.

The old cannon was built in 1898 at the Watervalet Arsenal in Watervalet, NY. No one k
nows how or when the
cannon came to Wessington Springs — possibly as part of a WPA (Workers Progress Administration) project in the 1930s, according to Walter Borkowski.
