The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Vietnam Memorial

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Institution Name: College of Wooster
Original/Historic Place Name: Vietnam Memorial
Location on Campus:
Date(s) of Construction and Designer(s):

post- 1973

original construction Unknown

Type of Place: Landscape site
Type of landscape–

Distinct topography:
Grove of red and white pines, concolor firs, arborvitae, dogwood, and flowering crabs.
Small-scale features:
25-foot cedar bench.
Large-scale features:
31 round granite steps, large granite rock set on a 5 ft. stone wall; rock is engraved on both sides.
Other characteristics:
Yes

Materials: granite, cedar

Function:

ca. n.d.-present (2007)

memorial site

Significance: architecture, culture, education, engineering, history
Landmark designation:

none

Narrative: see below
References: see below

Narrative:
The Vietnam Memorial is located in a grove of white and red pines, concolor firs, arborvitae, dogwood, and flowering crabs on a hillside above the college's football stadium. Thirty-one round granite steps provide access from both the base and the top of the hill. As you walk up the steps into the grove, you see a large granite rock set on a five-foot stone wall surrounded by three white pines. A single word, "Vietnam," is chiseled in the face of the rock. Behind it, a 25-foot cedar bench curves around the edge of the memorial area. On the side of the rock facing the bench is the following inscription:

"To all who suffered due to the
Vietnam War
May their pain guide
our paths"

For a whole generation of American college students and faculty, the Vietnam War was a source of great internal and external conflict. The memories of such events as The Kent State shootings are especially strong in Northeast Ohio. The Wooster community was not immune from these emotions, and the Vietnam Memorial holds particular significance for those members of the College community that came of age during this tremendous time.

References:

I. Bibliographic sources:

None specified.

II. Location of other data: