Military
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The Continental Construction Company of Erie constructed an 80-foot limestone monument to Oliver Hazard Perry in 1926, designed by Erie architect Fred Fuller at a cost exceeding $45,000. The Pennsylvania State Art Commission and a local task force built it on Presque Isle because it could be seen from the Erie shoreline and because they believed it would attract visitors to Presque Isle, which had been designated a state park in 1921. From 1969 to 1971, a $500,000 renovation added new steps, a railing, and a moat, and the monument remains a popular tourist sight. Perry's contributions and those of his determined shipbuilders were intended never to be forgotten, and other monuments to him include a 352-foot granite doric column in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, and statues in Newport, Rhode Island, and downtown Erie, Pennsylvania. In 1977, the USS Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG-7) was launched as the first in a line of 55 Perry class guided missile frigates built by the Navy.
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