The Freeborn County Veterans Service Office is proposing a plan to build a new veterans’ memorial in the courthouse square.

Veterans Service Office Director Jon Rhiger will ask if the county can provide a piece of land after the 1954 courthouse addition, on the north end of the complex, is demolished. County Administrator Ron Gabrielsen said the memorial would be built with funds raised by veteran organizations. Though Gabrielsen indicated the fund raising goal is $25,000, Rhiger said the the project size would be depend on the scope of the memorial, including what time periods and services would be memorialized.

The current memorial at Graceland Cemetery includes names of those who were killed in service. Rhiger said the new memorial could possibly be open to all veterans, which would mean as many as 10,000 names.

Rhiger has visited a memorial in Forest City, Iowa, with Al Larson of Larson Contracting, Inc., the company that undertook the construction.

&uot;Hopefully, (the new memorial) would give a little ownership to the other cities within the county,&uot; Rhiger said. &uot;Because if it was on the courthouse property, the courthouse belongs to the citizens of Freeborn County. It’s not just for the City of Albert Lea.&uot;