Vandals knocked the head off a similar statue last year in Bucyrus

BUCYRUS — A familiar face — along with the rest of the body — will soon return to a familiar spot, keeping watch over the Crawford County Courthouse steps on East Mansfield Street.

Crawford County Commissioners recently approved a new statue of Colonel William Crawford to be shipped back to Bucyrus to be placed in the spot where a similar statue had stood since 1906.

The replacement comes after vandals decapitated the original statue in August.

The commissioners received photos of the statue from Longstreth Memorials taken as it was being completed in China. Longstreth Memorials created a smaller clay rendition of the statue using photos of the previous one, which was used to create the new one.

The commissioners said sending the work to China to be completed was not simply an economic decision, but it was also due to the difficulty of finding an artist capable of performing the work. Colonel Crawford’s new likeness is expected to be shipped this week. It will take six to eight weeks to arrive in Crawford County and commissioners said hope to have it in place by April 1.

The new statue will be granite. The previous statue was made of sandstone. Other changes as a result of the vandalism include the installation of high-definition surveillance camerasaround the courthouse.

The commissioners said law enforcement officials dohave a video of the head of the statue being removed, and the issue remains under investigation of the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office. Crawford County Sheriff Scott Kent said it is a poor video, very grainy and was shot from a distance. He said his office has not been able to enhance the video for a clearer picture. The video shows a person running across the street, but the quality is too poor to glean any really useful details.