2/3 have gone missing!
The fact is, nobody knows exactly how many WWI Memorials there are in the US...
The Memorial Hunters Club is crowd-sourcing a national registry of WWI memorials and based on our results since our launch in October, we have come up with a credible number.
There are 3,500 WW1 Memorials in the US and 2/3 of them have gone missing!
Here is the mathematical exercise that leads us to that conclusion:
- The US World War One Commission has a state publishing partner program where we host state WWI commissions on our national website. Those teams have access to the same mapping function we are using for the Memorial Hunters Map - In fact they can post memorials on their state maps and punch those through to the national Memorial Register map also.
- Three of those states have really rocked it with great efforts to ID and post their state memorials.
- Those states are New Jersey, Georgia and Alabama.
- As three eastern and south eastern states - they average 118 WWI Memorials per state.
- There are 26 states East of the Mississippi, so we will assume that they are average based on our reference states.
- There leaves 24 states West of the Mississippi. We will assume that they are at 50% of average in those states.
- Though Hawaii has a WWI memorial, a WWI Centennial Committee and they publish on our site - to be conservative, we will eliminate Hawaii and Alaska from our count.
The data and math lead to 3,500 WWI memorials as a reasonable number. Here is how it lays out:
- 24 states @ 118 = 2,832 memorials east of the Mississippi
- 22 States at 59 = 1,298 memorials west of the Mississippi
- High side total assuming we are 100% correct in our premises = 4,130 World War One Memorials in the US
- Low side total assuming we are 70% correct in our premises = 2,891 World War One Memorials in the US
VERY REASONABLE CONCLUSION
We therefor contend that it is reasonable to say that there are 3,500 World War One Memorials in the United States
OUR MISSING HERITAGE
Based on the memorials we have identified and registered, we only know about 30% of them or less.
- So help get the word out about the Memorial Hunters Club.
- Contact your local VFW, American Legion posts,
- Look for historic building in your community that are over 100 years old
- Check schools, parks, stadiums, and churches -
Help us find, register and catalogue this American archeological treasure that is hiding in plain sight!
Go to ww1cc.org/hunter and help us ID and register the missing 2,300 Memorials!
Thanks.
The Memorial Hunters Club.
See how it lays out on the 100C/100M Memorial Hunters Map
South East WW1 memorials in Alabama & Georgia
Central Eastern WW1 memorials currently identified and registered
Western WW1 Memorials currently identified and registered
Mid Western WW1 memorials currently identified and registered.