Goodwin Park

Goodwin Park and its towering Soldiers and Sailors monument was created in 1888 to honor NH Governor Ichabod Goodwin whose house was located across from the park on Islington Street and is now part of Strawbery Banke Museum.

Created by the Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Conn. of “white bronze” (zinc) with a sheen created by a “patented sand blast process.” In the company’s catalog, scientists testified that this metal would “resist the chemical nature of the atmosphere for all time.” The monument originally stood forty-two feet high, topped by an eight-foot statue called “America.” America’s pedestal stood on a tall hollow base but the pedestal had eroded by 1955 and had to be removed. In 1999 the entire statue was refurbished and the surrounding memorials (where Portsmouth holds its annual Veterans Day commemorations) were professionally cleaned in 2021.