Riverdale Monument

Brief Information

At the center of the history of the Riverdale Monument stands not only a tower, but also a bell with a longer biography than the monument itself. The memorial bell tower was opened on September 17, 1930, in memory of residents of Riverdale and neighboring settlements who died on the fronts of the First World War. But the bell raised into it had been cast in Spain back in 1762, then was kept in a Mexican monastery and came into the possession of American General Winfield Scott as a war trophy during the Mexican-American War.

Because of this, the bell tower is not read as an ordinary church object. It is functioning, but secular and not attached to any church. The park around it is called Bell Tower Park, so the monument itself became the main landmark of the place, rather than an addition to a church or institution.

What to Notice First

It makes sense to compare three physical details: the form, the stone, and the bell. The tower stands separately and is built in the Neo-Romanesque style; its height is 50 feet, or about 15 meters. This form makes the memorial resemble a church bell tower, but the source text directly emphasizes its secular character.

The materials also reinforce this sense of a separate monument: feldspar and limestone brought from Indiana were used for the monument. The bell adds the most unexpected layer: an object connected with Spanish casting, a Mexican monastery, and a war trophy ended up in a memorial to residents of the area. Another important detail lies not in the appearance, but in the tower’s position: in 1936 it was moved several hundred meters for the sake of a new highway. This means the monument’s current location is not its original point, but the result of a reconstruction of the surrounding space.