South Park was the parade and drill ground for several Philipsburg militia units, including the Philipsburg Fencibles of the 1820s and 30s, whose colors, blue and white, are still used by the local high school. It was from South Park that the first area companies embarked to fight in the Civil War. The Civil War monument, topped by a Union solider facing north, was installed in 1910, after the original monument of 1898 was vandalized during the Old Home Week celebrations of 1909. The present monument bears inscriptions memorializing Philipsburg's first telephone (1877) and first electric light (1881).