The Alabama Confederate Memorial original cornerstone was laid by Jefferson Davis in 1886, and the monument was dedicated 12 years later. The construction of the monument was initially funded by the Ladies Memorial Association, but the group had some financial difficulties and the State of Alabama stepped in. The total cost of construction was $46,000. Alexander Doyle was the designer and sculptor of the monument, and an interesting aspect of his construction was the change from Alabama limestone, used for the base of the monument, to Indiana limestone, used in the shaft. The change coincided with the purchase, by Doyle’s father, of a limestone quarry in Bedford, Indiana.
the Confederate monument was the first public monument of any kind in DeKalb County. This tall monument with a Confederate soldier on top, was inscribed on all four sides with tribute to those who had fought for the Confederacy half a century before. The day of the monument’s unveiling was an eventful and memorable one marked by the oratorical splendor and colorful pageantry of that period.
But despite efforts to maintain the monument over the years, its higher elevations suffered from corrosion of the metalwork, open joints between masonry units and general stone deterioration. The renovation project was managed by the Alabama Historical Commission, which tracked and coordinated it through its various stages over the course of three years.
Work on the monument began in June 2003 and was substantially completed by September of that year. The scaffolding that had been erected for the purposes of inspecting the monument was also utilized during the treatment. Large replacement blocks and Dutchmen repair stock were cut from stones of selected quarries. The deteriorated blocks or sections were carefully cut out and removed. In addition to the larger repairs, several cracked blocks were stabilized with lime-based injection grout and fine cracks were filled with dispersed hydrated lime injections. Several steps were required in the process to fully develop the color and it required substantial artistry by the patinist to blend the dramatic variations into a unified whole.
The restored monument was rededicated in April 2004, the Confederate Memorial Day.
