Monument to Helen Gougar, suffrage leader, gets repairs in a Lafayette cemetery

Plus, detailing the local commitment to a $220M expansion for Evonik’s Tippecanoe Labs. A WL council member’s crowdfunding plea. ‘No Words’ for new June IND tracks. And a note to subscribers

Jun 5, 2022

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PRESERVATION WORK ON HELEN GOUGAR MONUMENT BEGINS

Crews from Stonehugger Cemetery Restoration on Saturday power wash the monument to suffragist Helen Gougar and her family at the Spring Vale Cemetery in Lafayette. (Photo: Dave Bangert)

Work began Saturday in Spring Vale Cemetery on a project aimed at cleaning and repairing a monument to Helen Gougar, a Lafayette teacher, attorney and leading light in the women’s suffrage movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Crews from Stonehugger Cemetery Restoration, a Nashville, Indiana, firm, spent part of Saturday power washing the stone monument with plans to return later this week to repair and seal cracks and joints in the structure fitted with benches, an urn and adorned with large columns.

“It’s needed this for some time,” Barb Knochel, Spring Vale Cemetery secretary-treasurer, said.

A “Save the Suffragist’s Monument” campaign raised more than $1,000 toward what Knochel said would be closer to $5,000 once it was done. Knochel said the cemetery has raised $2,500 in all so far.

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