OXFORD – The World War I cannon (technically called a mortar) at Ellsworth Park was sanded and painted recently.

The mortar was on the front lines of fighting outside of Paris, France, at the time of the Armistice. Dr. Harry R. Farris of Oxford was serving there as a physician. When the Armistice was signed on Nov. 11, 1918, military personnel were told they could send any of the fighting equipment home to a museum. Farris chose the mortar and mailed it home to the “Oxford Museum.”

For many years it stood on the lawn of the Farris home on King Street. Farris died in 1923 and when his wife’s health failed, she donated it to Oxford through Dick Stiles.

Farris’ granddaughter, Lois Witham, and family noticed the mortar needed paint and requested permission to paint it. Witham, her children and seven grandchildren sanded, scraped and repainted the town relic.