Miss Victory With Her Sword

Seeing as how I was talking about the Big V yesterday, I might as well stay in Victory Park for this post as well. Here's something I never thought I would see: a photo of Miss Victory with her sword!

The photo comes from the amazing photo archives of the Black River Historical Society. (If seeing this kind of thing interests you, please consider becoming a member! They would love to have new volunteers to help maintain their ever-growing collection of photos, research and memorabilia!)

I'm pretty sure this photo shows the winged statue after it was repaired by August Nabakowski in 1948. There were no trees at all behind the statue when it was dedicated in April 1922, judging by photos of the event. And a mere two years later, the sword and palm frond were lost in the 1924 Lorain Tornado.

Unfortunately, I understand that vandalism claimed the new sword and palm frond later.

You might be saying, "Palm frond? I thought that was an olive branch!" Well, a 1949 article from the Lorain Journal explained that it was a palm frond – a symbol of victory – as opposed to an olive branch, which is the symbol of peace.

And one look at this statue with her sword tells you that she's no peacenik!

Anyway, Lorain's winged victory monument isn't the only one from the 1920's that seems to be losing the battle against vandalism. Click here to read about a similar one from the same time period in Brooklyn, New York.