Liberty Memorial
 |
|
| Location | Kansas City, Missouri, United States |
|---|---|
| Nearest parking | On site (no charge) |
| Website | www |
|
National WWI Museum and Memorial
|
|
Aerial photo of the National WWI Museum and Memorial with the Kansas City skyline.
|
|
| Location | Kansas City, Missouri |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 39°04′49″N 94°35′10″W / 39.08028°N 94.58611°WCoordinates: 39°04′49″N 94°35′10″W / 39.08028°N 94.58611°W |
| Built | 1926 |
| Architect | Harold Van Buren Magonigle, Westlake Construction Company |
| Architectural style | Beaux Arts Classicism, Egyptian Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 00001148 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | September 20, 2006 |
| Designated NHL | September 20, 2006 |
The National World War I Museum and Memorial of the United States is located in Kansas City, Missouri. Opened to the public as the Liberty Memorial museum in 1926, it was designated in 2004 by the United States Congress as America's official museum dedicated to World War I. The Museum and Memorial are managed by a non-profit organization in cooperation with the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners. The museum re-opened to the public in December 2006 with an expanded, award-winning facility to exhibit an artifact collection that began in 1920. The National World War I Museum tells the story of the Great War and related global events from their origins before 1914 through the 1918 Armistice and 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Visitors enter the exhibit space within the 32,000-square-foot (3,000 m2) facility across a glass bridge above a field of 9,000 red poppies, each one representing 1,000 combatant deaths.
The declared mission of the museum and memorial is to be "dedicated to remembering, interpreting and understanding the Great War and its enduring impact on the global community."
Soon after World War I ended, a group of 40 prominent Kansas City residents formed the Liberty Memorial Association (LMA) to create a memorial to those who had served in the war. They chose lumber baron and philanthropist Robert A. Long, who had personally given a large sum of money, as president. Others included:
In 1919, the LMA spearheaded a fund drive that included 83,000 contributors and collected more than $2.5 million in less than two weeks, driven by what museum curator Doran Cart has described as "complete, unbridled patriotism". There would not be the monetary problems that plagued the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston a century earlier.
In attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony on November 1, 1921, were 200,000 people, including then-Vice President Calvin Coolidge, Lieutenant General Baron Jacques of Belgium, Admiral Earl Beatty of Great Britain, General Armando Diaz of Italy, Marshal Ferdinand Foch of France, and General John Pershing of the United States, along with sixty thousand members of the American Legion. The local veteran chosen to present flags to the commanders was a Kansas City haberdasher, Harry S Truman, who would later serve as President of the United States. The finished monument was dedicated on November 11, 1926, by President Coolidge, in the presence of Queen Marie of Romania. Coolidge announced that the memorial “...has not been raised to commemorate war and victory, but rather the results of war and victory which are embodied in peace and liberty…. Today I return in order that I may place the official sanction of the national government upon one of the most elaborate and impressive memorials that adorn our country. The magnitude of this memorial, and the broad base of popular support on which it rests, can scarcely fail to excite national wonder and admiration.”
...
Wikipedia