The History of the Ten Commandments Monument in Faribault
Thanks to the extensive records in Faribault’s online microfiche archives of city council minutes, we can look back at when the Ten Commandments monument was initially approved.
At the regular city council meeting held on Tuesday, March 12, 1957, a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Mr. Walter Huber, presented his proposal for setting up the monument in front of the Buckham Memorial Library.
As stated in this segment,
Mr. Walter Huber, representing the F.O.E. [Fraternal Order of Eagles] Aerie 1460, appeared before the Council relative to the monument to be given the City. He requested permission to have same erected on the Buckham Memorial Library site. Councilman McCarthy moved that the monument be accepted and that permission be granted to place same on the Library site. Motion was seconded by Councilman Korff and adopted by unanimous vote.
Although Faribault city council was unanimous in its choice to give permission to the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the board at the Buckham Memorial Library was not so sure about the idea of such a monument. Less than a month after the initial proposal, at the city council meeting of Tuesday, April 9, 1957,
Members of the Buckham Memorial Library Board appeared before the Council to protest the placing of the plaque which is being donated by the F.O.E. #1460 on the Library grounds. Mr. G. R. Kingham acted as spokesman. He stated that the Library building had been presented to Faribault as a memorial to the former Thomas S. Buckham. He stated that the Library Board had refused many memorials. Mayor Duncan stated that this was a special type of memorial. Councilman Dusek stated that he favored the action which the council had taken on the matter.
As a point of interest, it is worth considering the following. The Ten Commandments monuments across the nation were part of the Fraternal Order of Eagles’ stated agenda of encouraging juvenile virtue and lawfulness, and so it is interesting to note that in the following year, Faribault appointed its first Juvenile Officer to the Police Department. This seems to indicate a larger trend of attentiveness to juvenile behavior and misbehavior in Faribault, and even across the nation.
