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Crash destroys Village Cross

Incident marks third time monument has been damaged

Village Cross, a monument at the intersection of Brick Road, Loretto Road and St. Elizabeth Street in Loretto, was damaged by a pick-up truck. / Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski.

A longstanding monument at the center of a Loretto Borough intersection was destroyed early Friday when it was struck by a pickup truck, local residents reported.

The 12:35 a.m. crash at the monument called the Village Cross marked at least the third time the landmark has been the site of a serious accident in the past 31 years.

According to state Trooper Clifford Greenfield, state police were called to a one-vehicle crash at the monument, which sits at the intersection of Saint Francis Drive, Loretto Road, St. Mary Street and Manor Drive.

Greenfield could not provide additional details Friday afternoon, when he explained that the crash’s investigating trooper was off-duty and an information release was not yet issued.

Loretto Borough police could not be reached.

Local historian Frank Seymour was able to provide more information, revealing that the vehicle was a red pickup truck.

Seymour said he received a call in the early morning hours from a friend who lives near the monument.

“She heard two large booms,” Seymour said.

The first boom likely came when the truck hit the monument’s barrier, and the second came when the truck struck the monument’s 12,000-pound pillar, Seymour said.

Before the damage, the Village Cross consisted of a 13-foot limestone pillar with a lantern-like top sitting on a stone fountain base, protected by a concrete barrier.

Seymour also described a picture taken shortly after the crash.

“It shows the red truck sitting up diagonally right on top of that monument,” he said.

Initially Seymour said he worried about the vehicle’s driver, whose name had not been made public by Friday afternoon.

Later his attention turned to the monument.

Photos of the monument posted to social media websites show that the Village Cross was nearly obliterated in the crash.

“You get that sickening feeling,” Seymour said. “Seeing that monument to history struck down again.”

The photos posted after the Friday crash show that the pillar is missing completely and the concrete barrier also is crumbling and missing pieces.

The Village Cross was originally erected in 1918 near the entrance of the Schwab estate — named for the wealthy steel magnate Charles Schwab, who was raised in Loretto.

At that time, it was common for wealthy people to give “gifts” to the people living in their hometowns, Seymour said. The Village Cross was Schwab’s gift to Loretto.

The monument was fitted with four decorative gargoyle heads — two small and two large — that doubled as fountain spouts.

Those spouts were originally used as drinking fountains — the small ones for people and the large ones for their horses, Seymour said.

The monument was a welcomed addition to the well-traveled crossroads. And the prominence of that crossroads led directly to the monument being named the Village Cross.

The monument and its prominent position are “symbolic of a man who did so much for the town and the simple gift that he gave back to us,” Seymour said.

Friday’s crash was not the first at the intersection.

In February 1987, a crash toppled the monument, breaking it into several pieces and damaging the fountain base, according to a Mirror report from that time.

The cost to restore the monument at that time was estimated at $25,000 — much of which was covered by an insurance policy paid out to the Village Cross Restoration Committee.

“It cost a little bit in excess of that,” Seymour said, adding that a fundraising campaign was conducted to pay expenses not covered by insurance.

Seymour was a part of that first restoration effort, which followed the monument’s original blueprints and saw the use of accurate materials.

“That took a year of my life,” Seymour said. “It was probably the most enduring year, the most intense year that I’ve lived.”

Seymour remembered another accident in 1990, but that one was less severe, he said.

And two years later in July 1992, a 48-year-old Virginia man was killed when he too drove a vehicle into the monument.

Then, the Village Cross was “heavily damaged in the crash.” But again, it was eventually restored.

The 1987 accident caused more severe damage to the Village Cross, because it also destroyed its base, Seymour said.

Still, Friday’s crash was devastating, causing the complete destruction of the pillar, which had to be removed with heavy equipment.

“Nothing could be salvaged,” Seymour said. “You couldn’t even glue any of those pieces together.”

The Village Cross is owned by the borough, and there may be an effort to again restore the monument, Seymour said. However, the 79-year-old said he doesn’t know what his role in that effort will be.

“It’s a very sad chapter in my life,” he said.

He’s certain of one thing, however: if the Village Cross is restored, it must remain in the same location, he said.

“That’s the location. That was a big part of our history,” Seymour said, claiming every accident at the monument was caused by an aggravating factor. “I never could blame the Village Cross.”

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