After more than 125 years as a village landmark, Lowville's Civil War memorial is being taken apart.

It's step one in a year-long process to completely restore it.

"It's been a part of the community since 1883.  It's a focal point and it's a very nice historical item, we feel, and it should be preserved," said Save Our Statue treasurer John Mumford.

A previous restoration attempt is what actually did a lot of the damage. In 1988, the hollow zinc monument was filled with concrete to stabilize it.

"The problem is that water gets between the concrete and the metal and when it freezes, it expands, and that basically blows the monument apart," said Robert Lodge, McKay Lodge Conservation Laboratory president.

To fix it, the monument is being dismantled and shipped to a facility in Ohio.

"Take-down's a pretty fast process.  It's just three days. Concrete removal will probably take several weeks and then probably a month for repair of the metal.  Then a stainless steel amature will be built to put inside," said Lodge.

In all, restoration will cost close to $180,000.

Most of that will be covered by a state grant.

The village has committed about $20,000 too.

The rest of the money was raised by a local group over the last eight years.

"We never thought it would take this long or cost this much money but we were persistent" said Mumford.

Now all that hard work is finally paying off.

The fully restored Civil War memorial is expected to be rededicated in its old home by this time next year.