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| The Southampton Memorial Looking North |
By James Patton
The village of Southampton, NY (2020 pop. 4,550, 1920 pop. 2,891) is located in the toney East End of Long Island. It’s a well-to-do community; the median household income is $214,032, and the median property value is over $4 million. For well over a hundred years, it has been a summer playground for the glitterati and the Wall Street wunderkinds. It has long been awash with old money, and lasting traces thereof endure, such as: (1) the imposing Gothic-style Catholic church that the robber barons built over a hundred years ago for their Irish household help, and is designated as a basilica, (2) The art museum, endowed in 1898 by Wall Street lawyer Samuel Parrish (1849–1932), which has over 3,500 works of art, (3) the 1879 Episcopal "summer chapel," situated on the dunes and featuring original Tiffany stained glass and (4) the imposing and atypical WWI memorial. Located in Agawam Park, it’s made of Indiana Limestone, features extensive stone carving, and was dedicated on 19 August 1923.
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| Battle Detail |
The Art & Architecture Quarterly East End describes the memorial thusly: ‘[It]… consists of a platform slightly raised above its surroundings, the central portion three steps up and the side two steps. In the center has been erected a temple of simple Corinthian style with nautical trophies–the dolphin, the trident and the anchor–for ornament, as suggested by the ocean setting of this ancient village. The temple is roofed for shelter and on its interior walls are carved the names, rank and service of the Southampton men and boys who made the supreme sacrifice. Here are also carved the shields of the various allies and on the exterior great eagle panels with the shields of Great Britain and France. In the center, on a platform of stone, on which is cut compass points, stands a commemorative altar of victory carved with the symbolic oak and laurel supported by rods and capped by conventional tin hats.
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| Tribute to Two of the Fallen of Southampton |
The eight who gave their lives served in the 1st, 27th, 77th, 78th, and 79th Divisions, plus a sailor and a member of the British Royal Flying Corps. What is atypical are the wing panels, which bear the names of all of the 325 men, women, and boys who served, although some of these names are now illegible.
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| Part of the Roster of Sotonians Who Served in the War |
Other carved details include: the shields of the United States and New York State, the names of all of the major battles fought by Americans in the war, and daisy-chains of poppies. The sight lines were chosen so that in the south elevation, the temple colonnade frames both Lake Agawam and even the more distant Atlantic Ocean, although today mature trees block that far vista. The fountain and flagpole structures in front of the WWI Memorial were added later as the village’s monument to its fallen in WWII.
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| Altar of Victory |
Elsewhere in the same park, there is also a Civil War memorial, which is a nautical-style flag mast, flanked by two naval cannons, two naval mortars and stacks of cannonballs. Across the street from Agawam Park is an additional monument to all of Southampton’s service members: The Veteran’s Hall. Built in 1911, for many years it housed the American Legion Post 432. The village acquired the property in 1985.
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| Recent State of the Memorial Looking to Southeast |
Although $284,000 of overdue repair work was performed on the WWI Memorial site in 2012, just six years later the structure had significantly deteriorated, and eventually had to be fenced off. A survey by an engineering firm estimated that $400,000 of new work was needed. Fundraising efforts began in 2021, but repeated grant requests were turned down. Ultimately, in December 2025, a “great Christmas present for the village,” was the award of a $675,000 preservation grant from the state to help fund the restoration. Through other efforts, the village has raised another $500,000, including both a $129,500 donation from the Southampton Association (which seeks to “foster the preservation of the character of our historic Village”), and $100,000 that was mostly raised at a gala. The village is “probably a little bit short still” of the current estimated cost of $1.2 million, but is close enough to proceed with the project, as donations are still coming in, and the village mayor has pledged that “the village can allocate more money for it”. We certainly hope so.
A Special Thanks to Dr. Susana Patton for these photographs.
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