Westerly Library and Wilcox Park is known for many things. Books, certainly. Access to a variety of technologies, information, and programs. The sprawling park and beautiful gardens. Our dazzlingly charming, talented, and intelligent staff … I could go on and on. If we go back to the beginning, though, we are — at our core — a war memorial built in commemoration of the soldiers who fought in the Civil War.
In the words of Sally Coy, who led the library for 30 years: “From 1865 on, there had been considerable agitation in town for a Civil War Memorial, but nothing was done about it until 1889-90.” At this point, a sketch of the monument was created and about a thousand dollars was raised, but then things stalled. Finally, in 1891, Stephen Wilcox…
