From Left, Officer Aaron Little, Joe Bella and Thomas Hatem. (Courtesy photograph.)
A restored Civil War cannon has taken up residence at the Methuen Police Station after sitting in storage for nearly a decade.
Methuen Police Department’s curator of historical artifacts, Officer Aaron Little, his son Ben and retired Greater Lawrence Tech. lead auto body instructor Thomas Hatem delivered and carefully assembled the Civil War Model 1841, six-pounder field gun in the hallway of the Quinn Public Safety Building, just outside of Sanborn Hall.
From the 1970s to 2011, the Civil War cannon resided on the front lawn of the Methuen Police Department, at the Quinn Public Safety Building. In 2011, it moved to Greater Lawrence Technical School’s auto collision class for complete restoration. Following renewal, the cannon was placed at Methuen City Hall in the tunnel entrance of the building. In 2012, it was disassembled and placed in storage for the building of the Methuen City Hall Customer Service Center.
Little and Hatem this year proposed “a respectful display of the historical cannon.” After discussions with Mayor Neil Perry, Police Chief Scott J. McNamara, Little and. Hatem identified the new site.
According to the research by Joe Bella, vice president of the Methuen Historical Society, the cannon’s history dates to the 1840s and, in the early 1900s, Henry Coffin Nevins and James Ingalls took up a subscription to buy the cannon for $250 for firing salutes on special occasions. After adding a set of harnesses at a cost of $1,200, it was turned over to the Grand Army of the Republic, William B. Greene Post 100.