The 20th Century Veterans Memorial was dedicated on Oct. 12, 2002. The Memorial was made possible by the efforts of the Veterans Memorial Association of Smyrna.
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The 9/11 Flight Crew Memorial was born out of American Airlines Flight Attendant Valerie Thompson’s desire to honor the crewmembers killed on the planes hijacked on Sept. 11: American Airlines flights 11 and 77 and United Airlines flights 93 and 175. Her dream became reality when the monument was dedicated on July 4, 2008. Based on a design by Bryce Cameron Liston of Salt Lake City, Utah, and sculpted by Dean Thompson, the memorial features bronze sculptures of two pilots, two flight attendants and a child who represents the traveling public. The memorial’s base stands 18 feet tall. The names of crewmembers on the four flights are engraved on slabs of granite surrounding the base.
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Located at the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza near the State Capitol in Phoenix, the 9/11 Memorial in Arizona was unveiled on Sept. 11, 2006. The memorial is often — and perhaps best — described as a circular plan with a flat inclined metal ring. The memorial opened to some controversy. The controversy centered on a number of quotes engraved into the ring, including “Congress Questions Why CIA and FBI Didn’t Prevent Attacks” and “You Don’t Win Battles of Terrorism With More Battles.”
Sculptor John McClarey of Decatur, Ill., created a statue depicting Lincoln in September 1858 when he arrived in Hillsboro, Ill., while running for Senate. The statue, located near the Montgomery County Courthouse, was unveiled in August 2009.
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The statue of Arnold Schwarzenegger sits outside the Greater Columbus Convention Center, where it has stood since 2014. The bronze sculpture was originally erected outside the Franklin County Veterans Memorial in 2012, before being relocated and rededicated to its current location. Schwarzenegger, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman attended the ceremony.
The Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial opened on Feb. 22, 2017, the sixth anniversary of the 2011 earthquake that claimed the lives of 185 people. The memorial, located in a gentle curve of the Avon River in the heart of Christchurch, pays respect to those who died, were seriously injured and survivors. The memorial’s name, Oi Manawa, means “tremor or quivering of the heart.”
The Casimir Pulaski Monument stands in Monterey Square near the battlefield where Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski died during the siege of Savannah. Pulaski, along with Michael Kovats de Fabriczy, is considered “the father of the American cavalry.” Workers laid the cornerstone for the monument in either 1825 or 1853, depending on the source. The monument’s inscription reads, “Pulaski, the Heroic Pole, who fell mortally wounded, fighting for American Liberty at the siege of Savannah, October 9, 1779.” On October 29, 1779, Congress passed a resolution that a monument should be dedicated to Pulaski, and the Savannah monument was the first monument in the United States dedicated to Pulaski.
In November 2008, Athens dedicated “The Character of a Champion,” a 14-foot-tall bronze statue of Vince Dooley, the legendary former football coach of the Georgia Bulldogs. Athens sculptor Stan Mullins crafted the statue of Dooley, depicting the former coach being hoisted onto the shoulders of his players after winning the 1980 national championship. Dooley was head coach from 1964 until 1988. He was the university’s athletic director from 1979 to 2004 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994. The memorial was dedicated in 2008 before the annual Georgia-Georgia Tech football game.
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The city of Woodstock, Georgia, unveiled its memorial to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in 2016. The monument includes rail from the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) subway station below the World Trade Center. The marble monument is inscribed with a quote from President George W. Bush. The monument is part of the Park at City Center in Downtown Woodstock.
The Columbus Firefighters Memorial, designed by Lieutenant Ed Nothacker and erected in 1958, commemorates firefighters who died while serving. The memorial was dedicated on April 13, 1958, and rededicated on October 16, 1988. The monument, which features an eternal flame on top of Greek columns, was surveyed by the Smithsonian Institution’s “Save Outdoor Sculpture!” program in 1993.
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Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza is named in honor of the “Father of Route 66.” Avery, a Pennsylvania native, created the route while serving on a federal board tasked with creating the Federal Highway System. He pushed for establishing the U.S. Highway 66 Association to pave and promote the highway. n late 2012, artist Robert Summers unveiled a sculpture titled “East Meets West.” The detailed 135 percent-scale bronze depicts Avery stopping his Ford on the 11th Street Bridge as the vehicle startled a pair of horses pulling a wagon loaded with oil barrels.
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This solid bronze German Shepherd Dog DOGNY sculpture was dedicated on Sept. 11, 2013. The statue is part an American Kennel Club public art initiative. The project, “DOGNY: America’s Tribute to Search and Rescue Dogs,” honors the Canine Search and Rescue dog and handler teams who served following the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy.
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As Ed Schieffelin started prospecting for valuable minerals in southern Arizona during the latter half of the 1870s, his friends insisted he would only find his tombstone. They were wrong. Instead, he discovered silver in an area that would grow into one of the most colorful towns in the country’s history: Tombstone. Over the years, mines in Tombstone produced $85 million in silver. Schieffelin died in Oregon on May 12, 1897, but he insisted his final resting spot be in Tombstone. A 25-foot-tall monument stands atop his burial site and near the location of his original claim.
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In the heart of Hilliard, a bucolic Columbus suburb, stands what is said to be one of the largest Sept. 11 memorials. First Responders Park Memorial is dedicated to first responders nationwide and aims to remind visitors that no matter where they live, they have a stake in what happened on Sept. 11. One of the memorial’s features is a trio of granite walls inscribed with the names of those who lost their lives in the attack. In addition, steel from the World Trade Center was incorporated into the memorial.
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When Mark Anthony Cooper found himself $100,000 in debt in 1857 and his company, the Etowah Iron and Manufacturing Co., was about to be auctioned, he turned to his friends for help. With the help of 38 friends, Cooper raised $200,000 and purchased back his company. But, he didn’t forget his friends, and in 1860, after he repaid the debt, Cooper built a monument to thank them. The monument was originally erected on the town square of Etowah where his iron company was located. In 1864, the monument survived the wrath of Union soldiers led by Gen. William T. Sherman. In 1927, as the federal government was poised to create Lake Allatoona, the monument was relocated to nearby Cartersville. Three decades later, the monument was moved to the banks of Lake Allatoona to make room for more parking spaces in downtown Cartersville. In 1999, the monument moved to its current location in downtown Cartersville and the aptly renamed Friendship Plaza.
The Gilbert 9/11 Memorial features an 8-foot steel girder beam that once held up the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Gilbert Fire Chief Collin DeWitt and Assistant Fire Chief Jim Jobusch drove to New York City to personally collect the beam, then gave it the same honorable and respectful ride home they would give to a fallen soldier. Before it was installed at the memorial, the beam traveled through town so residents could see, touch and learn about it. The memorial was designed and built in four months. It also features four granite walls with the names of those lost in the attacks.
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The Golden Driller is a 75-foot-tall statue of an oil worker and is said to be the sixth-tallest statue in the United States. The steel frame structure is covered with concrete and plaster and weighs 43,500 pounds. The Mid-Continent Supply Company of Fort Worth built the initial version in 1952 for the International Petroleum Exposition, and it re-appeared again for the 1959 show. While it was a temporary feature, the company donated the statue to the Tulsa County Fairgrounds Trust Authority, which had it redesigned and permanently installed in front of the Tulsa Expo Center for the 1966 International Petroleum Exposition. The statue rests his right hand on an oil derrick that had been moved from a depleted oil field in Seminole, Oklahoma. The statue has stood in front of the Tulsa Expo Center since 1966.
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In 2004, the hometown of “Mr. Conservative” Barry Goldwater unveiled a statue of its most famous resident. Sculpted by Arizona artist Joe Beeler, the statue stands one-and-a-half times taller than Goldwater did in life. Located on a busy corner in the heart of Paradize Valley, Ariz., Goldwater’s likeness stands in the shadow of his former home. The monument is surrounded by neatly landscaped terrain featuring a plethora of local flora. An avid ham radio operator, Goldwater is perhaps best remembered for helping rekindle the conservative movement during the 1960s, publishing the acclaimed “The Conscience of a Conservative” in 1960.
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The Jefferson Memorial, located in West Potomac Park on the shore of the Tidal Basin, the third president and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. The neoclassical monument was built between 1939 and 1943; a statue of Thomas Jefferson was added in 1947. The American Institute of Architects in 2007 ranked the Jefferson Memorial No. 4 on its List of America’s Favorite Architecture. Jefferson quotes included in the memorial have been criticized for being taken out of context.
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The night before he was assassinated, President John F. Kennedy stayed at the Hotel Texas in downtown Fort Worth. The next morning, he gave an impromptu speech outside the hotel, just hours before he was killed. “There are no faint hearts in Fort Worth,” the president told a crowd gathered outside the hotel. In 2012, the JFK Tribute was unveiled in General Worth Square downtown, near the site of the former Hotel Texas, today a Hilton.
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According to VisitDallas.com, “Phillip Johnson, a Kennedy family friend, constructed this stark and simple memorial to the late president.” The memorial is located in the Dallas County Historical Plaza and near Dealey Plaza, where President John F. Kennedy was killed on Nov. 22, 1963.
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A statue honoring John Montgomery, the namesake of Montgomery County, was erected in 2002. While on a hunting expedition, Montgomery claimed Clarksville, Tennessee’s second oldest city. The city is named for Gen. George Rogers Clark.
The Key West Veterans Memorial Garden is located in Bayview Park and commemorates those who served and sacrificed for the country. The garden, located in Bayview Park, opened in 2015. It includes placks with information about wars involving American soldiers. The garden also includes the Civil War Forgotten Soldier Memorial, unveiled in 2016 and honoring the more than 120 black soldiers from Key West who served the Union during the conflict.
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The Korean War Veterans Memorial honors those who fought in one of the nation’s forgotten wars and one that has ramifications still felt today. The memorial features statues of 19 soldiers representing a patrol squad. The 19 soldiers reflect in a granite wall, giving the illusion of 38 soldiers, representing the 38th parallel that divides North and South Korea. The Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in 1995 on the 42nd anniversary of the deal ending the war.
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Leatherlips is one of Ohio’s great historic legends. He was executed in on June 1, 1810, though the precise location is open to some debate. To honor the great Wyandot Native American Chief, the Dublin, Ohio, community in 1990 unveiled a 12-foot high sculpture of Leatherlips’ head. Designed by Boston artist Ralph Helmick and located in Scioto Park, the portrait was made using stacked native limestone. The top is open with stacked stones extending back along its sides, making for a popular picture stop.
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The Monument to the Great Fire of London commemorates the Great Fire of London, which started on Sept. 2, 1666. The Monument, as it is colloquially known, was built between 1671 and 1677 on the site of St. Margaret’s, the first church the Great Fire destroyed, and 202 feet west of where the Great Fire started. The Monument is a fluted Doric column built of Portland stone. It is 202 feet tall and topped with a gilded urn of fire.
This bell from the former City Exchange dates to 1802 and may be the oldest in Georgia. The bell, imported from Amsterdam, hung in the cupola of the City Exchange from 1804 until the building was razed to make way for the new Savannah City Hall built in 1905. In addition to signalling the closing time for shops, a watchman would also ring the bell in event of a fire and to welcome distinguished visitors to the city. Today, it hands in a replica of the City Exchange, which was erected in 1957.
The Granville Opera House was destroyed by fire on April 7, 1982. The historic edifice was built in 1849 as a Baptist Church and moved to a location at the corner of Broadway (Ohio Route 661) and Main Street in 1882. The church tower’s bell is still on display in a park built on the site of the Opera House. The bell first rung on June 29, 1872, to announce the death of the Reverend Samson Talbot, Denison University’s fifth president. The bell was also know for sounding on the hour and as the fire alarm.
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“Peace Circle” interprets the 1843 meeting between Republic of Texas President Sam Houston and 10 American Indian chiefs and captains on the Grape Vine Prairie. The monument features 11 bronze statues standing 1.25 percent larger than life size. The Peace Circle meeting later led to the Treaty at Bird’s Fort signing on September 29, 1843.
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Standing on the banks of New York Harbor near the Staten Island Ferry terminal is Postcards, a pair of 30-foot-tall white marble wing sculptures that frame lower Manhattan. Designed by New York architect Masayuki Sono and built in 2004, the memorial honors 274 Staten Islanders: those killed at the World Trade Center, one passenger killed when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pa., and a resident killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
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There is no more well-known symbol of New York City or the country, for that matter than Lady Liberty herself. French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi designed colossal neoclassical sculpture, while Gustave Eiffel oversaw its construction. The Statue of Liberty, which sits on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, was dedicated on Oct. 28, 1886. For anyone who doesn’t want to take the boat to the island should consider the Staten Island Ferry for great views. It won’t cost a dime.
On March 20, 1882, Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp shot and killed Frank Stillwell in the Tucson train yards. Stillwell likely killed Earp’s brother, Morgan, following the Shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone, and Earp formed a posse to hunt down to pursue suspects, an event later remembered as the Earp Vendetta Ride. Sculptor Dan Bates created the statue of Earp and Doc Holliday that stands near the historic Tucson depot. The sculpture debuted on March 20, 2005, the anniversary of the shooting, as part of an overhaul of the historic train depot. Following the shooting of Stillwell, Earp fled Arizona as he was wanted for murder.
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The Doughboy statue on display in downtown Clarksville dates to 1929. It features an American soldier holding a grenade in one hand and a rifle in the other and honors the soldiers who fought in World War I. For more than 40 years, it stood guard in front of Clarksville High School and was moved to the armory on Ft. Campbell Boulevard in 1972. On April 15, 2010, city and civic leaders rededicated the statue at its new location in front of the Transit Station on Legion Street in downtown Clarksville. In 2015, it moved to a new location at the Tennessee State Veterans Home.
The Columbus Italian Club commissioned this sculpture, created by Gary Ross, in 1992. The statue is on display in Battelle Riverfront Park along the Scioto River.
The Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier honors the soldiers who died during the American Revolutionary War. Many of those soldiers were buried in mass graves in Washington Square, where the monument is located. The memorial was conceived in 1954 by the Washington Square Planning Committee and completed in 1957. The monument, designed by architect G. Edwin Brumbaugh, features an eternal flame and a bronze cast of Jean Antoine Houdon’s George Washington statue. An unknown soldier — either British or a colonial soldier — is encased in the memorial. Both the tomb and Washington Square are part of Independence National Historical Park.
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The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, situated north of the Lincoln Memorial, is a powerful tribute to those who gave their lives during the Vietnam War. The wall includes the names of over 58,000 servicemen and women. The memorial also includes “The Three Servicemen” statue and the Vietnam Women’s Memorial.
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George Washington sent a pair of bronze six-pounder cannons to Savannah after he visited the city in 1791 as part of his so-called “Southern Tour” following his inauguration. Affectionately called “George” and “Martha” after the nation’s first president and his wife, the guns — one British and one French — were given to the Chatham Artillery. In 1825, there was a push to send the guns to Augusta, but they remained in Savannah. According to one account, the guns were buried in 1861 uncovered in 1872.
The Washington Monument is perhaps the most immediately recognizable monument in Washington, D.C. Construction on the monument, honoring the first president of the United States, started in 1848, but was halted from 1854 to 1877 due to a lack of funding. Its capstone was set on Dec. 6, 1884, and the monument officially opened on Oct. 9, 1888. It was the tallest structure in the world from 1884 to 1889.
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Wellington Arch in London’s Hyde Park Corner was built between 1826 and 1830 and moved to its present location in 1883-83. The Arch, initially known as the Green Park Arch and is also known as the Constitution Arch, was at one time the entrance to Buckingham Palace. It later became a victory arch for Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon. The structure initially supported a colossal equestrian statue of the 1st Duke of Wellington by Matthew Cotes Wyatt. Since 1912, a bronze “Quadriga,” an ancient four-horse chariot, by Adrian Jones has sat atop the arch.
The Woodstock, Georgia, community unveiled the Woodstock Memorial in May 2009. The memorial, located in The Park at City Center in the heart of the city, consists of 10 tons of polished granite and is dedicated to local veterans. The monument, designed by Robert Young, reads, “To the men and women of Woodstock, Georgia who served in the armed forces of our country preserving our freedom and our way of life Erected in their honor.”
The World Athletes Monument, located at Pershing Point in Midtown Atlanta, is also known as the Prince Charles Monument. The four-story-tall monument features five bronze statues holding up a globe and standing atop a limestone base. The Prince of Wales gave the statue to the city as a gift to commemorate the games. Over the years, the monument has served as a gathering place for Atlantans commemorating major national or international events, including the 1997 death of the Princess of Wales, Princess Diana.
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