The City of Rochester rededicated a historic downtown landmark in anticipation of Veterans Day Saturday. City officials rededicated the monument of the World War I Austrian Howitzer at Washington Square Park Thursday. The newly cleaned and restored memorial spent years in storage. It now displays replaced medallions lost over the years.

The cannon was captured by the Italian army in 1918, and installed in the park in 1921. It was a gift from the people of Italy as a thank you for the more than 1,400 young men of Italian descent from our community who fought in the war.