Amherst officials hoping restored Civil War tablets will hang in Town Hall within a year

From MassLive:  Amherst officials hoping restored Civil War tablets will hang in Town Hall within a year

AMHERST – The more than decade long mission to bring the six marble Civil War tablets back to Town Hall could be nearing the end.
The last step in this journey is the hiring of a consultant to look at how the Town Room might support the weight of them and how they could be hung.
Some of them weigh about 1,000 pounds.
The tablets were donated in 1893 by a local civil war veterans’ organization- the E.M Stanton Post 147 of the Grand Army of the republic and bear the names of more than 300 residents including 21 African-American soldiers. Seven of those soldiers served in the 54th Regiment, the first all black regiment to serve.
Five of the plaques bear the names of men who served, and one of them bears the names of those who died during the Civil War including five African-American soldiers.
“They’re essentially (a look) at the community,” said Planning Director Jonathan Tucker. “This is a listing of so many people who were pivotal in Amherst at the time.”
The tablets had been displayed in Town Hall until the building was renovated in 1962 and then moved to the basement before being set in storage in 1997.
In 2000, Dudley J. Bridges wanted them properly displayed and began working to see they were restored and displayed. He couldn’t begin raising money though until the town established a site for them. The then Select Board in 2001 approved the possibility of the Gates lot at the east end of Sweetser Park with the understanding that restoring and displaying them would be paid for privately. Bridges began raising money. But he got sick and died in 2004 at 80.
“They were always on the radar screen, one of the priorities of the Historical Commission,” Tucker said.
After Bridges died, no one took up the fund-raising.
But then with the adoption of the Community Preservation Act, money was available.
In 2009, Town Meeting approved spending $65,000 from preservation money to begin the restoration. In 2010, restoration was finished. Once the tablets were restored though there were questions about where to display them.
Amherst Civil War Memorial Tablets, Cleaning and Conservation
Town Hall had been renovated since they were last displayed and they could not be hung in the same locations, Tucker said.
Former Town Manager Lawrence R. Shaffer considered the Town Room but determined the tablets could only be hung horizontally and there would no space for them all.
But Town Manager John P. Musante suggested they look at the room again to see if they could be hung vertically and determined they could fit with some mounted in sets of two on the south wall, Tucker said.
Musante said he believes what better place to hang them than in the town room in the historic Town Hall. “They’ve been part of the town history. They’re pretty cool.”
So now the town is drafting a request for proposal to hire a consultant to look at what kind of support the room would need to sustain the display and how to hang them. Musante said that state Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, is also looking to obtain some money from the state's Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission to assist with the project
“We have them and they’re restored. They’re wonderful,” Tucker said. Both Musante and Tucker are hoping the tablets will be hung within the next 12 months.