Ben Franklin , as he stands atop the Franklin County Courthouse (in PA), is 8' tall, weighs 25o pounds and is made of pine. Well he used to, at least. This statute was placed on the dome of the new courthouse building in 1865 when it was rebuilt. It was rebuilt after the burning of Chambersburg on July 30, 1864 by Confederate General John McCauland, on orders of General Jubal Early, when the citizens didn't take seriously the demands for $100,000 in gold or half a mill in Union cash. And Ben stood watch over his namesake county until 1991 when he came down got an extreme makeover, cloned himself in fiberglass and sent the new and improved Ben back up to the perch above Memorial Square (Lightning rod in hand) while the original Ben went into retirement across the street in the Heritage Center.
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