Finnish Ambassador Comes to Chester

THIS EVENT WAS CANCELLED

Mayor Butler will welcome Ambassador Ritva Jolkkonen, the Consulate General of Finland in

New York, to the City of Chester on Saturday, October 9, 2010 at the Finnish Monument - 

1158 Concord Avenue.

With Leif Ericson Day taking place in Marcus Hook earlier that day, the ambassador will be 

stopping in Chester to visit the Finnish Monument and meet Mayor Butler in his route back to 

New York. 

The red granite monument was sculpted by Vaino Aaltonen in Finland and sent as a gift to the 

people of the United States.  It was placed in Chester’s Crozer Park and dedicated in 1938 to 

commemorate the 300^th year of the first Finnish presence in the new world. 

According to Mayor Butler, the City is dedicated to not only preserving the Monument and 

park where it stands, but also to recognizing the contributions of the Finnish people to the 

region.

p.s. Most of us wouldn't consider the present location of the sculpture in Crozer Park but my 

guess is that once upon a time, long before I-95 was built, Crozer Park may have extended to  

Concord Ave. (photos by S.Roots)