Some of Stonewall’s history was revived on Monday as Jones College attached a newly made archway to the historic Stonewall columns. The college was thrilled to be able to help the Stonewall Historical Society out by creating the sign and installing it.
“We’re excited that we were able to help in the building of this,” declared Reggie Richardson, director of the Jones College Stonewall campus. “The historical society purchased the material, and we supplied the labor. Our welding class was able to put forth a lot of time and effort into building it. It was done under the leadership of George Smith, who was our former welding instructor, and Matthew White. We’re very thankful that they took on this responsibility to do something really special for the Town of Stonewall.”
The students at the college worked hard to create the sign, and Logan Griffin can easily remember a lot of the process he went through to help restore some of the history to the town.
“They got us the material, and when we got it, it was twisted up,” recalled Logan. “We had to piece it together. There were four different pieces we had to piece together. We were able to untwist them and made a way with a piece of pipe and a ratchet strap to actually pull them together and untwist them. I learned how to do things differently without having some machines and all that. I learned how to make do with what you have. The hardest part was really just trying to get it how it needed to be. It took about two weeks to actually put it together and get the expanded metal inside of it. The other students put the letters on it and did a good job on it; I built the frame.”
Once they completed the sign, the students and teachers from the college transported the new archway and attached them to the historic pillars, creating a beautiful welcome sign for the Town of Stonewall.
