Community Effort to Repair Freedom Horse in Rochester

The Freedom Horse statue that stands along I-490 in Rochester is being repaired and refurbished after it was vandalized over the course of the last month.

The statue, which was placed in the median of I-490 between the exits for Culver Road and Winton Road, stood for years as a memorial for first responders killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The horse is one of nearly 200 installations from the Horses on Parade initiative in 2001, a campaign led by Dixon Schwabl that raised more than $1 million for charity.

This was an incredible community effort as leaders from the City of Rochester, Rochester Police Department, Department of Transportation, AP Enterprises who picked up Freedom free-of-charge, and others who together brought Freedom to the original Artist Robert Whiteside to repaint the horse.

We worked with 13WHAM-TV's Kris Betts to help us share the story of making it right in Rochester! Click here to watch this story. We'll be in touch when Freedom is back in place in the coming weeks!

Also, thank you to Spectrum News and WHEC-TV for sharing this story, too!