JUNE 10, 2015
DAR Awards Historic Preservation Grant to Local Chapter
Original historic Stoneman Trail marker. (l-r) Katie Paulsen, Grand Canyon Chapter Honorary Regent; Helen Seaton, ASDAR Outstanding Special Education Teacher Award chairman; Ms. Seaton’s granddaughter; Jean Howell, Grand Canyon Chapter Honorary Regent; and Carolyn Frank, chapter member. Photo taken in 2011.
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) will be donating $1,550 for restoration of the Stoneman Trail Historic Marker in McDowell Mountain Regional Park.
Funding for the project was made possible through the sponsorship of Scottsdale-chartered Grand Canyon Chapter DAR.
The project, to begin in the fall, will replace the wood marker with granite, retaining the original bronze plaque. The original historic marker was placed Oct. 25, 1997 by the Arizona Society Daughters of the American Revolution (ASDAR) during the administration of Patricia Godber as state regent. Mrs. Godber is also an honorary regent of Grand Canyon Chapter DAR.
The marker commemorates Stoneman Road, an important conduit between 1870 and 1890 for the shipping of supplies from Fort Whipple in Prescott to Fort McDowell near present-day Fountain Hills. The route, of which only minimal traces remain, was named after Colonel George Stoneman. On April 10, 1890, Fort McDowell was vacated by the US military and became the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation.
Kandy Wagenbach, chairman of Grand Canyon Chapter DAR’s Special Grants Committee, said, “We know the National Society DAR receives many requests for donations to preserve our nation’s history, and we’re honored to receive their help in our chapter’s Stoneman Trail Marker restoration.”
The DAR grants program was started in 2010. Funding is awarded to support projects in local communities which promote the organization’s mission of historic preservation, education and patriotism.
The DAR receives hundreds of grant applications each year, making competition high for the funding. Interested groups must be sponsored by a local DAR chapter, submit a copy of their public charity 501©(3) IRS documentation, and include a description of the need and urgency of the project as well as planned activities and benefits to the community resulting from the grant.
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 and is open to any woman 18 years or older who can trace her lineal descent to a Revolutionary War patriot. To learn more about the work of today’s DAR, visit www.DAR.org. For more about applying for a Special Projects Grant from DAR, visit www.dar.org/grants.
For information about Grand Canyon Chapter DAR and its sponsorship of the Stoneman historic marker, contact chapter regent Kathy Shields at 602.820.5427 or project coordinator Kandy Wagenbach at 623.202.7691.
