It’s memorial day here in the United States, and for most of us, it means a day off from work, cookouts with friends and family, and the unofficial start to the summer season. But, many of us forget the true meaning of this holiday. Just as Labor Day exists to remember the hard work you’ve done over the course of the year, and Veteran’s Day commemorates the animal doctors in our lives, Memorial Day is a day to remember all of the great Memorials we’ve built and all of the people and events they honor.
In America, we live in a vast country, with a colorful and at times tumultuous history. Therefore, it’s no surprise that our nation is littered with memorials of all types to commemorate pieces of our past that we consider to be important, or at least memorable. But did you know that for every Mount Rushmore and Statue of Carl Weathers out there, there are hundreds of monuments that basically go forgotten across this great country? Are they even memorials at that point? In the spirit of Memorial Day, let’s take some time to remember some great, but at times forgotten memorials dedicated to the things that make America great. As your friends eat their burgers and dogs in ignorance today, here are 5 memorials you can reflect on this holiday so you know you are doing things right.
5. The Anderson Tower Monument
In 1884, the Mormon settlement of Salt Lake City was an up and coming city and tourist attraction with its sweeping vistas and rising temples. A businessman named Robert R. Anderson seized what he saw as an opportunity to make some money and bought a piece of land on the highest hill in the region and built a 54 foot tall stone tower, believing that tourists would pay an admission fee to climb the tower for some great views of the city. The problem was, the highest hill in the region already had great views of the city, and they were free and unobstructed by stone walls. Defeated, Anderson boarded up the tower within a few years. The tower stood desolate for years before finally being destroyed in 1932.
But, from the rubble of the destroyed tower, a monument was built to commemorate the tower that no one wanted or used. And so, today, this monument has existed for almost 100 years, and you too can go there and enjoy the views that were once obstructed by the tower it memorializes.
4. The Quality Tomato Capital of the World Statue
In the 1930’s, the town of Pittston, Pennsylvania declared itself the “Quality (not quantity) Tomato Capital of the World”. This claim was apparently due to the town being the chosen supplier of tomatoes to metropolitan New York, known to be a global hub of fine dining, I guess.
To commemorate this self-declaration, the town fully embraced the red fruit that identifies as a vegetable, putting it on their street signs, holding an annual tomato festival every year, and putting up a monument that would put nearly all other monuments to shame…
3. The Obama Kissing Rock
In front of a Subway in Chicago, Illinois, you’ll find a rock with a plaque on it commemorating the place where Barack Obama and his wife Michelle shared their first kiss. The plaque tells the story of how the two had just gotten ice cream and thus made the kiss taste like chocolate. It’s a cute story, but I’m still waiting to hear where Biden first finger-banged Jill.
2. Buchanan’s Birthplace State Park
On every historian’s list of best presidents ever to serve, there’s always one president from the mid-1800s who is at or near the very top. That’s right, I’m talking about the 15th president of the United States, James Buchanan.
Just kidding, as much of his presidency was viewed as a failure and he spent the last 10 years or so of his life defending his decisions that largely contributed to the American Civil war, no one in America was in a rush to create memorials dedicated to the disgraced president. Having never been married, Buchanan’s niece, Harriet Lane, served as the first lady during his presidency, who, after Buchanan’s death in 1868, began attempts to buy the land where he was born to build a memorial to him and his deeds. She continued to do so until her death in 1903.
She must not have been trying very hard, because in 1907, the lawyers who took over her trust were finally able to buy the land, and the monument at his birthplace was constructed by 1911.
The result? There’s now a rarely visited pyramid in the woods of Peters Township, Pennsylvania.
1. The Captain Janeway Statue
In 1995, the world was introduced to Star Trek: Voyager, the first Star Trek series to feature a female captain, Captain Kathryn Janeway, a future native of Bloomington, Indiana.
In Bloomington, Indiana today, you can find a memorial dedicated to Captain Janeway. Not Kate Mulgrew, the actress who played the character, but to the character itself. Now, I realize the intention is to say to young girls, “Look, you can do anything!”, which I totally agree with, but memorializing what is widely considered to be one of the weaker characters on what is widely considered to be one of the weaker Star Trek Series ever made is a strange choice, even if the character was born in your town and happened to be a woman. Those familiar with the source material will tell you Janeway’s decisions are very rarely ones that should be emulated by aspiring space captains, male or female.
So, there you have it. By all means, enjoy the day off and all the grilled meats you can handle in celebration of yet another holiday, but let’s not lose focus of what this day is all about, memorials.
Hiram Glassman
