By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A limestone bench hewn from a single, massive block of stone now adorns Veterans Park in Florence.

John McKay American Legion Post commander Matt Inlow said the bench was purchased from Strong City by a local family that did not want its name used in publicizing it.

The limestone was quarried from Chase County.

To get the bench, which Inlow estimates weighs three tons, into place in Veterans Park, city employees, volunteers, and others had to hoist it with a crane over a wood fence on the edge of the park.

“We thought that would be the place to put it,” Inlow said.

The Legion was afraid driving the weighted crane into the park grounds would damage the ground, he said.

The backrest of the bench is decorated with red stripes and blue wording that reads, “Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.”

The bench was brought from Strong City to Florence on a truck and trailer Nov. 5 and installed in the park Nov. 7 — just in time for Election Day, Inlow said. People have been impressed with the bench, he said.

“Everyone likes the location and are really glad how it turned out,” Inlow said.