NORTHFIELD — An ongoing project to recognize the 100-year-old heroic journey of a Northfield native has received some encouraging news.
Town Hall Master Planning Committee Chair Stephen Seredynski has been working to recognize Charles Preston for his service during World War I, uncovering the history of Preston and the company that crafted a plaque hanging in Town Hall in his memory.
“I’m trying to correct a 100-year-old mistake,” he said. “If this comes to fruition, it would be huge for little Northfield.”
Preston was nominated for the Distinguished Service Medal, but was denied by the secretary of war on a technicality, said Seredynski. Over the last few months, Seredynski has been undertaking the effort to have this medal awarded to Preston posthumously.
Seredynski said he received an encouraging notice from Congressman Jim McGovern’s office on Oct. 11. He was informed by the U.S. Department of Defense liaison assigned to the case that it had been forwarded to the Awards Section of the U.S. Army. Then, on Oct. 16, Seredynski said he received word the Army had officially accepted the case, and the process of awarding Preston has begun to move forward.
“Final determination will take time as the case is over 100 years old,” Seredynski said.
During the height of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, Preston was chosen to travel to Russia and assist the American Red Cross in setting up hospitals, while conducting a secret mission for the War Department.
While overseas, Preston clandestinely collected $2.5 million — equal to $28 million today — worth of platinum to be used in the manufacture of explosives as a secret mission for the War Department. He volunteered to serve his duties without pay. Preston’s mission, as described on the plaque in Town Hall, was one that “required remarkable business ability, tact (and) unflinching courage,” and was “performed at great and constant personal risk and hardship.”
Preston died on Feb. 17, 1919, just six hours after returning home from “one of the most daring missions ever undertaken,” the plaque reads.
Detailed information on Preston’s exploits—– including excerpts from his own diary — have been compiled and organized into binders, which can now be viewed at Town Hall, Dickinson Memorial Library and on the town website through the Northfield Historical Commission page. Information was provided from the archives of the Northfield Historical Society. Seredysnki said local researcher Joel Fowler also looked into the history of the company that created the plaque.
According to Fowler’s research, it was crafted in 1929 by the Art Stone Company of Millers Falls, which operated between 1906 and 1933, approximately. Beginning in a small shed with two or three employees, the Art Stone Company grew over time to employ more than 75 people on its annual payroll and produced more than 100,000 cubic feet of stone per year.
In 1911, the Art Stone Company was manufacturing plain, colorful and ornamental pre-cast building stone. The building stone was fabricated to imitate natural stone with many colors and textures. The product, which was relatively new at the time, was formed by crushing natural stone, granite or marble, and adding coloring matter to match a particular shade requested by a customer. It was mixed to an almost liquid state before being poured into sand molds.
According to Fowler’s research, the company had a sizeable trade among the contractors of New England. A few of the company’s projects included parts of the showroom for the Ford garage in Greenfield and decorative stone at the Weldon Hotel — now the Weldon Apartments.
In 1912, Italian architect, sculptor and designer Noe Regali was hired as a lead creative force behind the company. In his studio at the Art Stone Company, Regali used his crafting instruments to press shapes and designs into clay molds before spreading a thin layer of colored plaster over them, according to Fowler’s research. Limestone or granite was poured into the molds and left to harden for weeks before being carved into the desired shape.
The Art Stone Company continued creating its unique stonework for many businesses and families in the area until the Great Depression hit. The Art Stone Company went out of business in 1933. Following the closure, Regali opened the Architectural Stone Company in Turners Falls that same year. This successor company operated until 1970.
Regali died at Farren Memorial Hospital in Montague on Oct. 17, 1972.
In addition to his efforts to award Preston the Distinguished Service Medal, Seredynski is looking to have the plaque restored. The plaque is cracking and it is connected to the walls with rebar, making it impossible to remove for restoration.
Seredysnki spent the last two years applying for grant money for the restoration. An estimate from the Williamstown Art Conservation Center suggests that the plaque — which cost a little over $300 through an appropriation from the town when it was created — could cost thousands of dollars to restore today.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 264.