Erie’s contributions to American history were celebrated during a ceremony marking the 100th birthday of the Perry Monument.
About 400 people attended the event at Presque Isle State Park on the 213th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie on Sept. 10.
The monument is a reminder of that turning point in American history, said Vice Admiral Matt Kohler, an Erie native and keynote speaker for the event.
“Naval battlefields leave no markers, no gravestones,” Kohler said. “They’re horrific, violent events involving large-caliber weapons at close range. They are an assault on every human sense. Yet they leave no sign that they happened.
“It’s why this monument is so important,” Kohler said. “It’s a marker that something vital and important to us happened.”
U.S. Navy Vice Admiral (Ret.), and Erie native, Matt Kohler, background center, speaks during the 100th anniversary of the Perry Monument at Crystal Point, Presque Isle State Park, in Erie, Pa., on Sept. 10, 2026. The monument honors Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and his victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.
That vital event, Kohler said, was the victory of Oliver Hazard Perry’s Erie-built fleet over the British fleet off Sandusky, Ohio, on Sept. 10, 1813. The battle assured American control of the Great Lakes, the supply route between the nation and its westernmost outpost at Fort Detroit, recaptured from the British after Perry’s victory.
“Without the Battle of Lake Erie, our nation would look very different today,” maybe never expanding westward, Kohler said.
An unlikely victory
The fledgling American Navy was an unlikely victor in the Battle of Lake Erie.
“Taking on the Royal Navy was like a junior high school football team taking on the Super Bowl champions,” Kohler said.
Admirals, elected officials and more to attend Perry Monument event
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Perry Monument was built in 1926 on Crystal Point to commemorate this significant battle during the War of 1812 and honor Oliver Hazard Perry. (GREG WOHLFORD/ERIE TIMES-NEWS)
Perry lost his flagship, the Lawrence, in the fight, transferred his “Don’t Give Up the Ship” flag to the Niagara, and kept on fighting.
It wasn’t about giving up any one ship, Kohler said.
“It was about don’t give up the fight, don’t give up the team, don’t give up on us,” Kohler said. “It’s what Perry and his men call out to us today. It’s about continuing to protect our democracy.”
‘The spirit that endures here’
The Perry Monument anniversary event honored more than Erie’s role in history, Erie County Executive Christina Vogel said.
“It honors not only the history of what happened here but the spirit that endures here,” including determination to build on Erie’s shipbuilding legacy, Vogel said.
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The monument also honors the spirit that endures in the U.S. Navy, said Rear Admiral Samuel Cox, director of the Naval History and Heritage Command.
“Since the War of 1812, the U.S. Navy has had that mindset that we do not quit, we are going to fight,” whatever the odds, Cox said.
Other speakers at the anniversary event included U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, state Sen. Dan Laughlin, historian Joe Pfadt and John Hallas, bureau director for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
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A proclamation from Gov. Josh Shapiro honoring the monument’s 100th anniversary was read by Mike Ferritto, regional director for the governor’s office.
Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@gannett.com.
(This story was updated to change a video.)
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Perry Monument 100 celebration honors ‘spirit that endures here’