The Friends of Percheron Park are committed to planning and raising funds for the park and statue.
The Friends of Percheron Park is the local citizens’ group formed in 2011 to raise funds to develop Percheron Park at the intersection of Main and High streets. The park will feature a life-sized bronze statue of Diligence, the prized Percheron stallion introduced to the USA from France in 1839 by Moorestown native Edward Harris II to begin the improvement of the farm and road horses in our country.
On Thursday, Dec. 1, remediation efforts continued at the site, which was also a former gas station. The group had thought the park would be completed by 2014, but soil remediation — the utilization of various processes designed to remove contaminants such as hydrocarbons from the soil — has delayed construction longer than anticipated. The work has continued periodically over the years.
“The Friends of Percheron Park are committed to planning and raising funds for the park and statue,” member of the Friends of Percheron Park, Margo Foster, said. “They are pleased to see the remediation continuing and are hopeful that construction can begin in the near future after environmental concerns are met.”
Foster said when the organization first came up with the project, it developed a ballpark budget which it believed the project’s completion could possibly amount to. To date, the Friends of Percheron Park have raised about half of that total sum and still needs approximately $50,00 to $75,000. It continues to request the generosity of Moorestown community members.
The Friends of Percheron Park believe the park honoring the introduction of the Percheron horse and celebrating Moorestown’s agricultural history will create an inviting spot to visit in the town center. It will provide a focal point for residents and visitors to meet, encourage learning about the town’s history, introduce public art to Main Street, stimulate merchandizing and inspire a revitalization of the town center.
“In the summer of 2006, a local committee asked for ideas to create interest in Moorestown’s town center,” Foster said. “I proposed the idea of placing a life-sized, bronze Percheron horse statue there, but I had no idea how long it would take or what would be involved in making it happen.”
Foster explained the Percheron horse was important to the development of our country, especially in the Midwest, before the development of the internal combustion engine. By 1930, there were three times as many Percheron horses in America than any of the other draft horse breeds.
Harris (1799–1863) was born in the Smith-Cadbury Mansion, a farmhouse located at 12 High St. that is now the headquarters of the Historical Society of Moorestown. He inherited his father’s house and 139-acre farm in 1821 at age 22. Although deceased, Harris and his horse Diligence will pass on their legacy through the park.
Further information is available at www.percheronpark.org.
