The story behind Seneca’s 1929 rock pillars

A pair of rock pillars that serve as an entry way on EN 1st Street into Seneca’s downtown sport a cleaner and tidier look these days. The city has taken over maintenance of the pillars, with the consent of their owners, the Once-A-Week Club. The city also has become re-acquainted with the history. City administrator Scott Moulder says the civic club erected one of the monuments in honor of Samuel McGee Byrd, the first Senecan to have died in the First World War. The plaque on the second monument recognizes all veterans from the First World War—a war that was supposed to be the war that ended all wars.