by JC Sullivan
Dedicated in 1919, it was ‘A living Memorial to World War I Soldiers’. The Liberty Row Oaks originally ran along a nine-mile chain. It consisted of approximately 850 Red Oak Trees and individual round Bronze Plaques that listed the names of Cleveland area fallen during American involvement in World War One , 1917 – 1918.
According to Christopher Ray, writing in the ‘Heights Observer’, the plan was begun before the war ended in 1918. At that time Cleveland Councilman Jerry R. Zmunt wrote in the Plain Dealer “This is a splendid way of honoring our boys. It is particularly fitting that one of our finest boulevards in the city be chosen. The naming of trees after our dead heroes is the best tribute we can pay them and their names will thus be perpetuated in a living thing.”
Today, if one took a walk or bicycle ride along Liberty Boulevard, now known as Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., through Gordon, Rockefeller and Wade Parks, you might catch sight of a remaining Red Oak or perhaps even a plaque that hasn’t yet been discovered for its scrap value. In 2017 new plantings were placed along MLK Blvd.
If you then continued your tour it would take you up Ambler Drive and North Park into Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights. In the decade beginning in 2011, an initiative was begun to place new plantings in the spots where the original trees had been.
It was true in 1918 and it is true in 2020. The Boulevard remains one of northeast Ohio’s gems. While replacing the original bronze plaques is out of the question but, to their credit, the Cities involved began replacing the Red Oaks. It is only a dream to think something new might be created to perpetually honor our fallen from the “War to End All Wars.”
Bibliography
Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Christopher Roy
Heights Observer
Western Reserve Historical Society
Sullivan is a regular contributor. He also writes for DD214Chronicle.com, a northeast Ohio Veterans Newspaper.
